Covent - St Martin`s Courtyard

Transcription

Winter 2010/2011
Issue 10 of your FREE guide
to everything that is anything
in Covent Garden
cgjournal.co.uk
FREE
COVENT
GARDEN
Journal
Winter 2010/2011
Issue 10 of your FREE guide
to everything that is anything
in Covent Garden
cgjournal.co.uk
02 58
04 10 36 46 54
EDITOR’S LETTER
DIRECTORY
PLACE
LIfE
TASTE
ARTS
PAST
04—Open season
The story behind
St Martin’s Courtyard,
the fantastic new retail,
leisure, dining and
residential development,
that has transformed a
previously unloved corner
of Covent Garden.
10—With diamonds
Sarah Owen on renting
out clothes, dressing up
for Bella Freud, and having
her pop star sister for a
business partner.
36—Melting pot
Peter Gordon, the
culinary genius behind
Kopapa—the new
restaurant that fuses
together the many
flavours of the world.
44—High rollers
Skateboarding fosters
creativity to an extent
rarely matched by other
outdoor pursuits. Artist,
skater and Slam City
regular Arran Gregory
explains why.
54—Raising the bars
The boozy history of
Covent Garden’s drinking
culture.
14—Gold standard
Nathalie Kabiri on her
jewellery store.
18—My fashion life
Raphaella Godefroy, N2.
20—Mineral wealth
A mineral-based makeunder at Bare Escentuals.
22—Gift guide
Christmas tips.
26—In bloom
Gillian Wheeler of the
Covent Garden Academy
of Flowers.
26—Expert eye
Vintage clothes.
32—Hide and prejudice
Leather at Desa.
34—Chairman of the
keyboard
Clifford Slapper, pianist
at Crazy Bear.
01 Covent Garden Journal Issue 10 Winter 2010/2011
40—Dessert storm
Nancy Mahon of Aunt
Alice Puddings.
41—Daily grind
Grounds for celebration.
42—Rare treat
Steak and cocktails at
Hawksmoor Seven Dials.
42—Paying the Bill
Bill’s Kitchen.
43—Food of love
The best romantic eats.
48—It takes tea to
tango
The Waldorf Hilton’s
tango tea.
50—The king and eye
Lear at the Donmar.
51—From the crew
room
The great outdoors.
52—Exhibit
Forthcoming exhibitions.
Useful websites
coventgardenlondonuk.com
operaquarter.co.uk
sevendials.co.uk
stmartinscourtyard.com
Editor’s LEttEr
/Mark Riddaway
To us, one of the biggest indicators of how much the
face of Covent Garden has changed over the course
of the past year is the amount of time we’ve had to
spend fiddling around in the Directory section at
the back of this magazine. Hour upon hour we’ve
spent trying to squeeze a quart of new retailers
and restaurants into a pint pot of silk-finish paper,
while simultaneously exposing to the world our
sub-primary school grasp of alphabetical order.
Hour upon hour we’ve spent looking up phone
numbers and checking the spelling of Massimo
Dutti. And still in the last issue’s Directory we
somehow managed to leave out Apple—that tiny
little computer shop that opened with such meagre
fanfare back in the summer. Well, it’s not like they’re
a particularly big company or anything.
The brand new St Martin’s Courtyard development
hasn’t helped—adding a dozen or so new names to
our listings—and with this brand new shopping
and dining destination set to unveil even more
openings over the coming months, things are
unlikely to get much easier for us. Seven Dials is
thriving as well, with Peter Gordon, one of London’s
most distinctive and inventive chefs arriving
behind the pass of his new Kopapa restaurant.
A significant transformation of the Piazza is well
underway, with a whole slew of dramatic new
arrivals scheduled for next year, while the Opera
Quarter is also on the verge of some exciting
announcements. We’d just like to say to them all—
slow down please, you’re really not helping us here.
Editor
Mark Riddaway
020 7401 7297
[email protected]
Assistant editors
Jean-Paul Aubin-Parvu
020 7401 7297
[email protected]
Viel Richardson
020 7401 7297
[email protected]
Claire Finney
020 7401 7297
[email protected]
Advertising sales
Donna Earrey
020 7401 2772
[email protected]
Publisher
LSC Publishing
Unit 11
La Gare
51 Surrey Row
London SE1 0BZ
lscpublishing.com
Contributers
Shannon Denny
Joseph Fox
Angela Holder
Amy Laughinghouse
Caroline Roddis
Design and art direction
Em-Project Limited
01892 614 346
[email protected]
Distribution
Letterbox
Printing
Cambrian
NEXT ISSUE:
March 2011
NATASHA NDIOvU
LOCATION
MONMOUTH STREET
WHy ARE yOU HERE?
ON ROUTE TO My
MODEL AGENCy
pLaCe
Open
seasOn
/10
The story behind St Martin’s Courtyard, the
fantastic new retail, leisure, dining and residential
development, that’s turning a previously unloved
corner of Covent Garden into a genuine destination
PLACE
PLACE
OPEn sEAsOn
One of the most pleasing things about
central London in general, and Covent
Garden in particular, is its ability to fling
up surprises. The area’s sprawling streetplan looks more like the work of a drunk
than a town planner, so with even the
slightest deviation from your usual path,
the possibility exists of stumbling across
something new or different or hidden
away. Nobody gets lost in New York—even
Londoners get lost in London.
Anybody seeking a new route or
taking a wrong turn in Covent Garden this
winter is liable to wander into something
genuinely unexpected—a spectacular new
retail, restaurant, leisure and residential
development that has turned the dead
space off Long Acre and St Martin’s
Lane into a genuine destination. With the
development work having taken place in
a remarkably unobtrusive manner, even
people familiar with the area will likely have
been unaware of its gestation. Pretty soon,
though, it’s going to be hard to imagine
a Covent Garden without St Martin’s
Courtyard.
The development was initially the
brainchild of Shaftesbury, a property
company which started in 1986 with a small
block of properties in Chinatown, before
gradually acquiring and resuscitating the
previously moribund districts of Carnaby
and Seven Dials. “We first bought into the
northern part of what is now St Martin’s
Courtyard about 10 years ago, then
gradually bought into properties further
down the street until we eventually owned
the whole of the north part of the site,” says
Shaftesbury’s property director, Simon
Quayle. The site at the time was anchored
by an unloved, under-utilised NCP carpark.
There were some shops along Long
Acre, some office space, and a couple of
restaurants including Café de Jardin, but at
the centre was a large area of dead space,
used mainly by chefs and kitchen porters
on their cigarette breaks.
The southern part of the site was owned
by the Mercers’ Company—the premier
livery company whose connections with the
area are as tightly woven as the fabrics its
medieval members once produced. Seeing
the potential for a new development on a
large but under-achieving plot of land, the
two neighbours joined forces to create St
Martin’s Courtyard. This represented, they
believed, a spectacular opportunity to
create something of real long term value.
Large, underdeveloped sites in the
heart of the capital are as rare and
covetable as golden-egg-laying geese, but
they need to be handled with sensitivity
Desa
and care. Having a coherent vision for the
site was essential. “Together we were
able to create 70,000 sq ft of retail in 23
different units, so we had an opportunity to
create a destination with a strong and very
specific identity,” says Simon. “Between
us we felt there was a gap in the market
for a more female orientated space. We’re
not talking high end Bond Street, we’re
talking accessible but high quality, and with
a real point of difference. We wanted new
concepts, flagship stores, boutiques that
aren’t already on every high street.”
The result is a retail and leisure
community filled with intriguing one-offs,
small boutiques and interesting characters.
“Melvita is the first one in the UK. Covent
Garden Academy of Flowers—first and only
one. Even Joules, which has other stores—
this is their London flagship and will have
products they don’t sell anywhere else.
Jaeger London—first standalone store.
Desa—flagship. Bill’s Produce Store—
first one in London.” The restaurants
are similarly distinctive—Dishoom is an
interesting new concept, Cantina Laredo
is the first in the UK, and Jamie’s Italian
is the chain’s only West End branch.
While the trend for major modern retail
developments involves the construction
of vast modernist cathedrals of glass
and metal, Shaftesbury and the Mercers’
Company have taken a more subtle
and measured approach to St Martin’s
Courtyard. Rather than making a grand
architectural statement, they have chosen
instead to retain as much of the existing
St Martin’s Courtyard—the story so far
Twenty8Twelve Womenswear by Sienna
and Savannah Miller
Melvita French organic beauty brand—
first UK store
Jaeger London Luxury British fashion
brand—first stand-alone womenswear
store
Desa Designer leather and suede
womenswear
Joules Stylish casualwear label—first
central London store
The White Company
Affordable luxury homewares and
fashion
The Covent Garden Academy of Flowers
Flower design courses, flowers and gifts
relax Beauty and massage centre
LK Bennett Shoes, accessories and
occasion wear
Jack Wills Cult fashion and lifestyle
brand
Banana Republic Refined modern
womenswear and menswear from the US
Hoss Intropia Eclectic, original collection
of womenswear and accessories from
Spain
COS Understated eveningwear and
elegant workwear
Time² Designer timepieces from luxury
watch specialist David Morris
Massimo Dutti Wardrobe staples,
cosmopolitan womenswear and
menswear
Bill’s Produce Store Café and fresh
produce store
Jamie’s Italian Jamie Oliver’s rustic
Italian dishes—West End flagship
Dishoom London’s first Bombay-style
café
Cantina Laredo Gourmet Mexican
cuisine—first UK branch
PLACE
St Martin’s Courtyard
stmartinscourtyard.co.uk
Hoss Intropia
fabric as possible, using complementary
modern design to extend up and down
where necessary, including 30 brand new
residential apartments at the upper levels.
“Most of the site worked within the existing
fabric, but with modern extensions,” says
Simon. “It’s what we do with most of our
projects—if we can use existing buildings,
retain the historic look of the space, and
enhance it, that’s what we do.”
As the existing buildings were
themselves already that traditional London
jumble of ages and styles, the net effect is a
seamless fit with the rest of Covent Garden.
“While it’s a new scheme, if you look at the
style of the architecture, and the contrast of
styles within it, all of which blend together,
I think within a year people will think it has
been there forever,” says Simon.
The attractively landscaped open space
at the centre of St Martin’s Courtyard
is essential to the character of the
development, hence the prominence of the
courtyard aspect in the site’s new name.
“The courtyard is what creates the magic
here,” says Simon. “Although it is private
land, it will be accessible to the public 24
hours a day. There is external seating for
the restaurants, but there is independent
seating too, so it’s somewhere you can
go to eat and drink and shop, or just sit
down and relax or read a book in a beautiful
landscaped environment.”
There are three ways into the courtyard:
a new entrance on Mercer Street, an
enlarged entrance from St Martin’s
Lane, and Slingsby Place—an historic
LK Bennett
passageway off Long Acre. “The units along
both sides of Slingsby Place have beautiful
shop fronts,” says Simon. “They’re all old
coaching buildings, so they have fantastic
ceiling height, beautiful arches, and these
are all directly visible from Long Acre.”
The restaurant space at the back of the
courtyard is strikingly modern in its design,
and its glazed, back-lit frontage is designed
to act as a beacon to draw people down
Slingsby Place.
Before the building work could begin on
St Martin’s Courtyard, archaeologists from
the Museum of London were called in to
excavate what had once been part of the
Saxon settlement of Lundenwig. Among
the many remarkable discoveries, aided by
the preservative effect of the waterlogged
ground beneath what was previously the car
park, was evidence of the use of coriander
in the villagers’ diet—as pleasingly unlikely
a discovery for the archaeologists as a
brand new development in the heart of
the West End will be for shoppers. But, as
St Martin’s Courtyard proves, nothing in
London should ever really surprise us.
Jaeger London
relax
PLACE
Palace prize
Anybody going online to book a room
in the Strand Palace Hotel up to the
end of December will have the chance
to win a VIP weekend in London worth
over £2,000, including a three-night
stay, meals, theatre tickets, London Eye
Merry Kissmass
The Piazza
coventgardenlondonuk.com
Christmas
smaCkers
/Merry Kissmass
The Covent Garden Piazza is going all
weak at the knees this Christmas with
a programme of kissing-themed festive
events, going by the name of Merry
Kissmass.
This unusually romantic approach has
been inspired the extraordinary installation
that stands at the heart of the celebrations.
KISS, created by internationally renowned
designer Paul Cocksedge, consists of a
giant piece of mistletoe hanging beneath
the Piazza’s magnificent Christmas
tree. When a couple kisses beneath
the mistletoe, the touching of their lips
completes a circuit that illuminates the
50,000 white and red LEDs and 100
strobes which bedeck the tree. KISS is
sponsored by The Body Shop which, as
well as donating money for each kiss to
the Princes Trust, will be hosting ‘pucker
up’ stations, where your lips will get a free
makeover prior to the big moment.
The installation was formally launched
with the auctioning of a kiss with Christine
Bleakley, and the gentle petting continues
with an array of romantic musical
performances, kiss-themed products in the
Apple Market, sales of aphrodisiac delights
at the Thursday night Real Food Market,
the ‘Fancy a Kiss?’ programme of nights
for those seeking a partner beneath the
mistletoe, and the International Kiss Hour,
during which foreign nationals smooch
beneath the tree while their kisses are
transmitted to their loved around the world.
Also tied in with the celebration is a
late shopping evening that takes place on
Thursday 2nd December from 5-9pm with
numerous stores providing a 20 per cent
discount, sound-tracked by performances
from Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
One word of warning—despite its name,
it is vitally important that nobody mistakenly
takes the Reindeer Petting event for being
in any way kiss-themed. It’s about the only
thing in the Piazza that isn’t.
Flights, shopping vouchers and a digital
camera. The winner will be selected at
random on 4th January.
strandpalacehotel.co.uk
WIN A LUXURY SHOPPING
TRIP TO ST MARTIN’S
COURTYARD...
Win a luxury shopping trip for you and a friend to St Martin’s Courtyard, London’s newest
shopping and dining destination. The prize includes £500 shopping vouchers to
spend in some of the 25 fashion and beauty boutiques. After all the shopping, enjoy a
treatment at relax spa then head to one of the five great new restaurants at St Martin’s
Courtyard and enjoy a delicious dinner for two with drinks. At the end of the evening
retire to the 5-star Covent Garden Hotel, a stylish boutique hotel just a few moments
from St Martin’s Courtyard.
Cantina Laredo
The White
Company
For a chance to win this incredible prize enter online
at stmartinscourtyard.co.uk
Follow us on twitter at
@smccoventgarden
Follow us on facebook at
Terms and Conditions – entrants must be 18 or over,
overnight stay date is subject to hotel availability.
Closing date for entries 31st January, prize must
be taken by 28th February 2011.
relax spa
LIFE
/10
LIFE
Shannon Denny meets Sarah Owen,
co-owner—alongside her sister Lily
Allen—of the spectacular new vintage
clothing boutique Lucy in Disguise, and
hears about renting out masterpieces,
dressing up for Bella Freud, and the
downside to having a pop star for a
business partner
LIFE
Lucy In dIsguIsE
Getty ImAGeS
Dressing up is a popular pastime for plenty
of young girls, but for half-sisters Sarah
Owen and Lily Allen it was more like an
extension of the family business. the pair
are daughters of the film producer Alison
Owen, whose credits range from Shaun of
the Dead to the Other Boleyn Girl. When
Sarah was four, her mum married actor
Keith Allen. Lily was born the next year, and
Alfie came along the year after that. After
the breakup with Keith, their mum was in
a long relationship with comedian Harry
enfield. Lily went on to pop stardom, Alfie
became an actor, and Sarah became a
producer like her mum. that’s an awful lot
of showbiz in one family, and an awful lot
of dressing up.
Last year the half-sisters started talking
about turning their love of dressing up
into a business, and the result is a King
Street vintage shop that’s styled as a
flat belonging to “Lucy”. each “room”
represents a different era. the 1920s for
example is a sitting room in which beaded
dresses hang next to handmade lighting
fashioned from terry De Havilland shoes.
the 1960s zone is a riot of bling, accented
with Bond girl-inspired wallpaper created
just for the shop. the 1970s section drips
with wild prints and a serious amount
of suede. Follow the pink plush carpet
downstairs and you arrive in the beauty
parlour, kitted out with a Grey Goose
vodka bar. manicures are available at the
Wah concession, or you can flip through
lookbooks to find vintage styles courtesy
of the Bumble & Bumble blowdry bar and
Ila masqua makeup counter. Next door
is the super-luxe dressing room that’s
available for hire to groups.
A limited-edition Lucy in Disguise
poster evokes Alphonse mucha or 60s
album art, but is in fact a collaboration
between tim Watkins of the Gorillaz and
Nigel Weymouth, creator of the iconic
swinging sixties boutique Granny takes
a trip. “That’s a real ethos of ours—the
fusion of old and new,” says Sarah. “We
don’t want to be a dusty old vintage shop
where you look like you’re stepping out
of a BBC drama. We want it to be vintage
in a modern, wearable way.” make that
modern, wearable and covetable. my eyes
stinging from the effort of absorbing so
many garments I would love to immediately
put on, I ask Sarah about how she landed
every right-thinking woman’s dream job.
LIFE
Lucy in Disguise
10-13 KIng Street
020 7240 6590
lucyindisguiselondon.com
CGJ: How did you come up with the name?
Sarah Owen: We can’t take the credit for it;
it was our mum who discovered the name.
She was on location in Dorset wandering
around a little old antique bookshop,
and she stumbled across a really tacky
romance novel called Lucy in Disguise.
She called us up and was like, “I found
it, I found the name! You can start your
shop now!” We have that book framed
on our cash desk. We loved the idea that
it gave us a fictional character to give
the shop a voice, and we also loved the
connection to music with the link to the
Beatles song—we love a good pun in our
family. We also loved the disguise element;
essentially that’s what we’re all about.
How did you come up with the concept?
We really wanted to replicate our
experiences of getting ready. my group of
friends always make a big deal of it and
we practically don’t go out anymore unless
there’s a theme. We get together and
have cocktails, we do the hair, we do the
makeup. that was where it came from,
the whole experience of top-to-toe service.
Our tagline is, “The best part of going out
is getting ready.”
Eighty per cent of the stock is available
to hire—customers pay 20 per cent of
an item’s price and get it for a three-day
period. How did that come about?
It’s very much the feel of the moment.
People are becoming more socially aware
with regards to recycling, with irresponsible
spending. Ostensibly our collection started
with a lot of Lily’s clothes. For years she
was letting her friends and family come to
her wardrobe and borrow things whenever
they’d got an event. So really the idea was
just an extension of that.
How do you and Lily divide up the work?
Initially we were both in the office all the
time doing everything together. It was a
bit inefficient. We were forced to look at
our roles carefully and figure out what was
the best use of our respective time. I’m
a bit more organised so it became clear
that I should be the managing director.
Lily’s strengths—you know she is such
a creative person—made it an obvious
choice for her to be creative director.
Who handles the sourcing of new stock?
We both did that initially because that’s
our passion, but it became clear that we
wouldn’t be able to carry on because Lily
was just too famous. everyone assumed
she had a massive bank balance and the
minute they saw her coming the price
would suddenly go sky high. So we had
to start leaving her at home. We’ve got a
very old friend of ours who’s a stylist and
very in tune with our tastes so she’s taken
the sourcing baton from our hands. And
there’s still a lot of ebay clicking that goes
on because that’s obviously anonymous.
What drew you to Covent Garden?
We were looking in Fitzrovia initially. I don’t
know why, but we weren’t finding anything.
Our agent said, “Have you thought about
Covent Garden?” the minute we landed
in Covent Garden, the minute we saw this
place, we were like, “Why didn’t we think of
this before?” there’s a pretty big vintage
culture here already, the historic nature
of the area is just perfect and being in the
middle of theatreland is perfect for our
concept. I’m so happy to be here.
What are your own local hotspots?
to eat, I’m a massive fan of Wahaca, and
I go to Carluccio’s about three times a
day for every meeting that I ever have.
the other vintage shops in the area—like
Blackout II, Wow Retro—are some great
establishments that have been here
for years. I want us to all work together
and make Covent Garden a real vintage
destination.
Who are your personal dressing-up icons?
If I had a time machine I’d go late-60s—
Anita Pallenberg or Jane Birkin—or I’d be
Bianca Jagger in Studio 54 riding a white
horse. Lily on the other hand I think would
be Paris in the 20s or Hollywood in the 30s
with the decadence and glamour.
Is there anything in your background that
foreshadowed your unusual job?
Definitely, although I didn’t recognise any
of the signs along the way. From a very
young age we had a very long, thin corridor
at the house we grew up in, and I was
eternally doing catwalk shows for my mum
and her friends. my mum always hung out
with a pretty creative bunch of people—
Pam Hogg, Bella Freud. By some form of
osmosis that was seeping in.
And then there was your work in the
theatre...
the last four years my existence has been
the Portobello Panto, which I wrote and
produced. the part I loved about that was
dressing up. In fact after the first year I
tried promoting comedy because I wrongly
thought it had been the comedy aspect of
it that I’d enjoyed and had a flair for. I was
like, “God, it’s just not the same without
the costumes! Unless I go into transvestite
comedy, I don’t think this is going to be it
for me.”
What’s your favourite item in the store?
there is a piece I picked up in Vegas. It’s a
batwing sheer cape with a jagged edge and
lots of red and silver glitter glued onto it.
It’s spectacular and I absolutely love it, the
ultimate festival wear. I would say that’s
my most special piece—hence it’s not
available to buy, only to hire.
Is the difficulty of parting with treasures
an occupational hazard?
We’re becoming more clinical about it,
but having said that, yesterday one of my
favourite jackets was sold. I was upset—
not because it was sold but because I
hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye to
it! I would have had my moment with it in
the changing rooms before it went out the
door. I asked a lot of dealers about how
they cope with letting go of these special
pieces and they’re like, “You know what?
There’s always something more amazing
round the corner.”
Some vintage stores focus only on
designer pieces; why have you opted for
more diversity?
We like to fit pieces that cost £90 next to
things that cost £2,000, because it’s not
all about the price tag. Obviously you have
some really beautiful designer clothes, but
likewise there are a lot of pieces from the
twenties for instance that haven’t got a
label on them and really fun disco pieces
that are from more obscure designers.
For me, it really doesn’t matter. the thing
that unifies everything in our shop is
beauty. that’s why we take our sourcing
so seriously. No matter what the designer,
what the era, what the price tag, everything
you pick up has to be breathtaking.
LIFE
LIFE
GoLd
standard
Nathalie Kabiri,
whose shop has helped
redefine the relationship
between fashion and
jewellery, talks to mark
Riddaway about modern
art, international talent and
mirroring the catwalks
“Curated designer jewellery” is the strapline
chosen by Nathalie Kabiri—retailer,
jewellery obsessive and patron to many
a cutting edge designer—to describe her
eponymous business, the flagship store of
which is located within the Covent Garden
market Building. But if her life had taken a
slightly different turn, Nathalie might well
have ended up being a curator of a more
conventional sort. If that had happened, the
art world’s gain would, to many a jewellery
lover, have been a significant loss.
As a teenager, Nathalie assumed she
would end up curating contemporary art
exhibitions. She studied art history at
Goldsmiths, which at the time was still
basking in its reputation as a Sorbonne
for dynamic young folk with a penchant for
the kind of high concept installation art
that turns telegraph readers puce. But the
problem with art history degrees, even from
so high profile an institution, is that the
world only ever needs a limited number of
gallery curators. “Once I left Goldsmiths, I
didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she says.
“Art history is one of those things where
unless you’re going to become a curator,
there aren’t many obvious career paths.”
After finding employment in the world of
consumer PR (“It was just a job”), Nathalie
set about trying to turn her appreciation of
aesthetics into a rewarding career. Art, she
decided, wasn’t the way. “The art world’s a
bit dry,” she says. “I’m not by nature a very
serious person. To be successful in the art
world I think you have to take yourself quite
seriously. I like fun things, pretty things,
which is what fashion is all about.”
Fashion and jewellery had always vied
with modern art for Nathalie’s affections.
Growing up, she had spent a lot of time
exploring jewellery shops with her trinketloving mother. “My mother was always
very open-minded,” says Nathalie. “She
used to shop at a place on South Molton
Street which sold contemporary jewellery.
She loved jewellery but didn’t come at it
from a totally purist point of view, as she
liked fashion as well. You get a lot of purist
collectors of art jewellery, but she was
definitely the sort of woman who would buy
from a shop like that but would like to wear
what she bought with the latest clothing.”
It was Nathalie’s experience of slightly
stuffy jewellers’ shops that convinced the
breezily straightforward north Londoner
that a different approach to jewellery retail
had to be possible, and it was this thought
that provided the foundations for Kabiri.
“The problem I felt before we opened was
that a lot of jewellery was more of a craft,
to the extent that it had alienated young
people,” she says. “I knew from going to
craft shops with my mum that if you looked
hard enough you could ferret out some good
stuff. But the way they merchandised and
branded themselves just didn’t relate to a
lot of people. I thought that by connecting
jewellery more closely with fashion you
could make it more instantaneous, more
understandable, more accessible.”
Nathalie and her husband, who worked in
property, pooled their savings, gave up their
jobs and plunged headfirst into the venture.
Between them they had pretty much no
experience of retail—“I’d worked in fashion
shops, but there’s a difference between
working in a shop and opening one,” says
Nathalie—but after finding a shop architect
by googling ‘shop architects’, and learning
pretty much everything else on the job, their
marylebone boutique quickly took shape.
It opened in 2004 and quickly carved out
a name for itself. “Our ignorance wasn’t
LIFE
goLd standard
a problem,” says Nathalie. “It probably
helped—if we’d known more about what we
were doing, perhaps we wouldn’t have gone
for it. My husband is very gung ho and has
a lot of energy, and somehow it worked.”
Long before the business was ready
to open, Nathalie had already sought out
the jewellery she wanted to sell, most of
it designed by young, fashion-conscious
designers unable to get a foot in the door
of the larger, more conventional retailers.
“It was just stuff I thought was amazing,”
says Nathalie. “I’d gone to trade shows,
I knew people, I went to shops, I googled,
I looked in magazines. I’m very sure of what
I like and I knew that the collections needed
to have a certain integrity of design. I have
a knack for choosing designers at the
beginning of their careers. I’m not afraid of
taking a risk if I love what somebody does.”
For a while, Nathalie was showing the
work of so many young graduates from
Central St martins that showing your first
collection in Kabiri was almost a standard
rite of passage for students of the college’s
jewellery design courses. “It almost became
expected that I would take them on,” says
Nathalie. these days she spreads her web
more widely. “I have a more international
focus, and that’s quite important to me.
I’m not just focusing on young UK talent—
I think of it as more of a worldwide thing.
The English can be a bit arrogant sometimes
in thinking we have the best designers in the
world—we have great design schools, but
there are designers from Thailand who are
amazing, and it’s the same in New York, in
Japan, everywhere.”
the business has grown rapidly in
scale and reputation, with a Selfridges
concession, a highly acclaimed website and
the two shops. the Covent Garden branch,
in particular, exemplifies Kabiri’s distinctive
take on jewellery retail. the downstairs
room, which is only open by appointment,
takes it cues for lighting and display from
a gallery space rather than a shop, and
includes seating and changing rooms.
“It’s important that you can buy jewellery
to match your clothes, but you can’t go to
work in a cocktail dress,” says Nathalie.”
Nathalie has built a large and diverse
network of designers, covering a wide range
of price points, many of whom now enjoy a
Kabiri
18 the market, the Piazza
020 7240 1055
kabiri.co.uk
significant profile. “I think the calibre of our
designers has improved as our reputation
has improved. You start off at a base point.
You learn, you grow. There were designers
who turned us down because we didn’t have
any history, but now it’s easy—too easy in
a way—which makes the selection process
so difficult. There’ll be really good designers
who I can’t use, because I think somebody
else is doing something too similar. Or they
could be great designers but they’re just not
working with the aesthetic of the season.”
the idea behind Kabiri is that jewellery
designers should be the stars of the show.
the cult of the designer has long been at
the heart of the fashion world, and most
people could even name a shoe designer or
two, but jewellery is generally far less showy
in trumpeting the names and back-stories
of its creative talents. Jewellers are rarely
natural self-promoters, preferring their
work to speak for itself. “What I’m trying to
do here is say to designers that although
it’s great making lovely individual pieces,
they need to get sold. The public needs to
make that connection between you and the
jewellery, like they do with clothes. You need
to get your name on it, do some PR, send it
to magazines, get it shot, look at trends, use
that fashion mentality to your advantage.”
One way in which the fashion world
manages to ensure the constant ringing
of tills is by imposing upon consumers a
sense of perpetual motion. At least twice
a year, the decks are cleared, the previous
season’s looks declared over, and a bright
new future unveiled. By taking the practical
necessity of adjusting your wardrobe in line
with the weather, the fashion industry has
created a conveyor belt of constant change
and reinvention. “It’s more for marketing
isn’t it?” says Nathalie. “I’m sure that 200
years ago clothing didn’t work like that.
The fashion world has developed this
calendar in order to sell more.”
Contrived it may be, but it’s a fantastic
business model that Kabiri, unlike most
jewellery businesses, works hard to mirror.
Just as a fashionable clothes retailer will
completely change most of its stock on a
regular basis, so too does Kabiri. Some of
this has a genuine seasonal edge—“We
sell more bracelets in the summer, more
necklaces in the winter. I’ll try to get richer
colours for winter and lighter colours for
summer”—but mainly it’s about applying
that same sheen of freshness and progress
to jewellery. And that means keeping a
careful watch on what fashion designers are
doing, then sourcing jewellery collections
to complement the latest looks. “I do a look
book every season for my managers,” says
Nathalie. “I look very closely at what the
catwalks are doing. I look at colour trends,
styles. I’ll fit the jewellery into those.”
But despite this emphasis on fashion,
Nathalie is determined not to be led solely
by the catwalks. “We always look to have
one or two designers who are ahead of the
game,” she says. “We have some who are
so avant garde, so completely out there, that
they’re way ahead of the catwalk—they’re
operating on the same level as the craziest
fashion designer. It’s important for us to
have those inspirational pieces in the store.
Being too trend driven, too slavish, can be a
bit dull, so it’s great to have something a bit
arty and out there in the shop.”
And that’s where the curator in her truly
comes out. Nathalie may have chosen
jewellery over art, but that doesn’t mean that
those years at Goldsmiths were a waste.
DISCOVER CHRISTMAS
SHOPPING HEAVEN
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few steps away from Seven Dials - a relaxed yet vibrant
area of Covent Garden
ENJOY
SHOPPING IN
SEVEN DIALS
COVENT
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Seven Dials WC2
LIFE
MY FasHIon LIFE
tOm BRADLey
/Raphaella Godefroy,
Manager, N2
CGJ: Where does your other jewellery
brand Les Nereides end and N2 begin?
RG: Les Nerides celebrated its 30th
anniversary this year, and we decided to
launch a younger, funnier line, which is N2.
We wanted to make something really crazy,
not only for young people but for everyone,
to allow them just to go a bit wild. Our first
collection is all about fairytales, so we have
Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood,
Snow White. then we released the bikes—
really delicate, handpainted bike necklaces
with real moving parts—and pendants of
animals wearing boots and umbrellas.
What is the relationship between the
space and the jewellery?
We try to change the window quite often
to give customers something new each
time they come, we have some jewellery
hidden—it all enables the customer to
really get involved with the store. All our
display cases are vintage, which we found
in car boot sales and second hand shops,
and each one has a story that’s related to
the collection it’s displaying. So the Alice
in Wonderland we put in the window of
a chest from the bakery, because of the
mad Hatter’s tea time. then for the bike
necklaces we went to a bike shop and got
really old pieces of bike to hang them on.
With its antique cabinets, chairs and even
a cup of tea on offer for customers, N2
seems more like someone’s home than
a shop. What’s the thinking behind it?
the whole concept is centred around this
trendy girl, a blogger who is interested in
everything—travel, art, painting, fashion,
cooking—many different interests. When
you enter the shop, you’re coming into her
flat. As soon as we saw this shop we knew
it was perfect for us, because its position
LIFE
N2
73-75 monmouth Street, Seven Dials
on the corner gave it so many windows
and natural lighting. We wanted to keep its
British atmosphere—the big old windows,
and the really old brick wall—but we wanted
something different to the usual over-thecounter relationship with the customer.
And the rack of old wellies on offer in
the corner?
We just found this brand we really like.
they’re recycled boots, made out of recycled
and fairly traded materials. Let’s be honest,
if you live in London you must have rain
boots—so the blogger whose ‘flat’ the
shop is, has rain boots. When we create
collections we are always thinking about
what she would think, what would she like
to wear.
If N2 is all about stories, what’s yours?
I’ve always been involved in the company,
ever since I was little. my cousin is Nina,
she has owned the english business of Les
Nereides for 20 years now, and my other
cousin Bianca is a graphic design student.
Both of us help Nina in the shop,
in fashion shows, events, window displays
—everything that’s to do with the shop.
I love working together. I am a fashion
student—I’m studying fashion and business
at the London College of Fashion—and I
do think it’s important to study it, but it is
mostly because this is our family business.
even when we were three years old we were
going to fashion shows with our parents.
We basically lived in the shop, so it all comes
very naturally to us.
Our first collection is all
about fairytales. Then we
released the bikes—really
delicate, handpainted bike
necklaces with real moving
parts—and pendants of
animals wearing boots and
umbrellas.
Something about the bright colours and
graphic designs of the N2 collections
reminds me of Tatty Devine just up the
road. Is Monmouth Street big enough for
the two of you?
All the shops in this bit go really well with
each other. We are similar to tatty Devine
in some ways, but I don’t feel we are
competitors. I love what they do, I’m a big
fan, and in many ways they focus on one
element and we do the rest. Our jewellery
works really well with Fifi Wilson’s outfits,
and with those of Poste mistress. those,
together with the make-up shop Screen
Face, basically make for a complete outfit.
We should close the street and just have a
24 hour party here!
Les Nereides must think a great deal of
Covent Garden to have two shops within
a stone’s throw of each other...
We love this area. you have all shops, quiet,
not many cars, it’s a really nice place to eat,
have something to drink. It’s so much better
than other areas like Oxford Circus, and
the King’s Road—we used to have a shop
there but it’s not the same. you really have
to know about Covent Garden, and about
Seven Dials in particular. that’s what we like
about it. I have a feeling this area is never
going to go out of fashion, it’s always going to
be really popular. I’ve worked here for three
years and I’m not going anywhere.
How would you describe your style?
I study fashion and I work in fashion but I
don’t really like to follow fashion. I try not
to blindly follow trends. I have to feel really
comfortable, which means I like to be
quite casual. Because I work in fashion, I
have to dress up a little bit, but my style is
really simple. It’s really good working here,
because we always need to wear jewellery,
so if you wear something simple and then
wear big jewellery it always works well.
What’s does the next chapter have in
store for N2?
the fairy tales we are keeping all the time
—they’re like our signature collection.
then we have 18 new collections coming
out. the animal theme is always growing;
we have new necklaces and earrings coming
out which I love, that are designed like a
dinosaur drinking a mojito. It’s so cute.
We want to organise an event in the shop to
launch it, maybe a mojito night. At Halloween
we were going to have an event where
people could make pumpkin heads, but
then we realised it would be too messy.
So we had a big gory-cartoons party instead.
For example that intriguing digital
emoticon necklace you’re wearing...
yes—although to be honest this is not really
my style at all! Basically three years ago we
started a contract with the Smiley collection:
we did some watches at first, and 25 per
cent of what we earn goes to a charity that
helps disadvantaged teenagers in France.
Now we have evolved our pixel-inspired
collection to incorporate Smileys too. When
I saw this necklace for the first time I thought
I would never wear it. But I love it now.
With two separate boutiques in London,
another due in Milan and franchises
everywhere from New York to Tokyo,
how French is the Les Nereides company
these days?
the design team is still based in Paris, but
I wouldn’t class the collections as strictly
French design and French inspiration. that
said, everything else about the brand is very
French. the way we have our shops, the way
we train our staff, the way we conduct our
business: it’s still very French.
LIFE
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n
I
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L
M
Clare Finney—who gets night terrors from fear of caked-on
make-up—experiences the subtleties of a mineral-based
make-under at Bare escentuals
aLtH
E
W
LIFE
Crème de la crème
On the day that Bernard Chevilliat
founded melvita, the world of organic
skincare was no more than a drop in
a L’Oreal ocean. He’d arrived in the
Ardeche in 1973, after an extensive
education in biology and beekeeping,
and had started his own hive on the site
of a former farm. Beekeeping became
a honey business, the honey proved
perfect for making soaps, shampoos
and conditioners, and—20-odd
years, 20 stores and 250 employees
later—France’s number one organic
beauty brand was born. Now open in St
martins’s Courtyard, the bright green
front of melvita’s Covent Garden flagship
promises the latest skincare technology,
the finest organic ingredients and the
utmost respect for nature.
uk.melvita.com
Bare Escentuals
40 Neal Street, Seven Dials
020 7836 7424
bareescentuals.co.uk
I have always had an abiding fear of
excessive make-up. ever since I was a
young girl and discovered the glamorous
lady whose daughter I’d stayed with had
turned into a totally different woman by
morning, I have been paranoid that, should
I venture down the streaky road of matte
foundation and blusher, I too will end up
going to bed with one face and waking up
with another.
So it was with some trepidation that
I find myself undergoing a make-over at
one of Covent Garden’s most successful
cosmetics shops. First formulated in the
United States over 30 years ago, the cult
status of Bare escentuals was confirmed
recently when the brand was chosen to be
the official make-up partner of Chicago, the
musical. It was the first make-up company
to proclaim the use of 100 per cent natural
minerals in its products—yet as I climb into
one of the store’s high seats, the only thing
I can feel is fear.
“How do you like your foundation?” asks
my make-up artist, Lynn. “Light? Very light?”
three colours are brushed onto
my cheeks and my opinion is sought.
A confused stutter, an utterly blank
expression, and Lynn quickly deduces that
I’m none other than “a Bare Minerals virgin,”
as she gleefully exclaims. With that she
launches into an enthusiastic discussion
of what it is she’s going to do with my face.
“We call it a make-under, a sort of half-face.
It avoids you looking overdone, and it means
you can get all the benefits from coverage
without looking like you’re wearing any
make-up at all. It’s one brush, three steps—
and all you need for it is in our starter kit”
It’s a good sell, but my fears still aren’t
wholly allayed. Almost every product the
make-under involves is utterly alien to
me—mineral Veil and Summer Bisque in
particular sound as if they come from one
of Holland and Barrett’s more obscure
supplement ranges.
One hundred per cent pure and natural
is all very well—but can it ever really be
healthy to cover your skin in anything that
won’t sink in? “The minerals are taken
from natural rock, literally crushed from the
earth, and there are no preservatives, oils,
fragrance, dyes or anything else that can
irritate or infect,” says Lynn, demonstrating
the revolutionary Swirl tap and Buff
routine that forms the basis of every Bare
minerals product. Product goes in lid,
brush swirls round lid, minerals go in brush
and, with a quick tap to ensure they’re
evenly distributed, the potent mixture of
Lynn is ‘buffed’ onto the face. Veil follows
concealer, warmth follows veil. No doubt
it’s easy if you know how (or if person doing
it for you knows), but what of the average
Josephine who takes home a load of
products and hasn’t the foggiest how to
apply them?
“We would never just sell something to
someone without showing them how to use
it first. It’s not like traditional liquid makeups—you have to know how to apply this
properly—but once you do, you won’t even
need a mirror. I do mine while making a cup
of tea.”
this means including a DVD of
instructions in their starter pack—but it
also means keeping the boutiques doors
open to anyone in need of advice, products,
or even just some pampering before a big
date. Some other make-up outlets demand
that you pay for something before offering
you any treatments or tips. Bare escentuals
apparently wants to be “just like your
girlfriend really. We want you to feel like you
can just drop in, have a chat, get your face
done and feel totally comfortable.”
Bare escentuals is, Lynn says, about
being comfortable in your own skin—
whether or not you’re Cameron Diaz (known
to be an ardent supporter of the brand’s
mineral Veil). the idea is to give your face
that ‘flawless’ look without it appearing
like it’s caked in foundation: as Lynn so
delicately put it, “you don’t want your
make-up to turn the corner before you do”.
“Make-up so pure you can sleep in it,”
is Bare escentuals tagline, but it’s a lot
more besides. With most of the minerals
chosen for their health-giving properties,
many a girl has been known to do exactly
that: sleep in it, avoid the horrible make-upless ‘morning after’ moment, and know that
their skin is being nourished at the same
time. “Zinc oxide promotes healing, and
titanium oxide gives a natural glow,” says
Lynn. “Use this for a couple of weeks and
you’ll see your skin get better and better.”
As she adds the finishing touches to
my new and improved face (the blush for
giving “natural contour back to the face,
highlighting bone structure”, the lip gloss
for ‘sparkle’) I begin to see why this stuff
might become a bit addictive. I’m not totally
transformed. that startled-looking face in
the mirror is still me. But I do look—better.
more bright, and less drawn. I’m not going
to subscribe to it. I’m probably not going to
sleep in it. But when that next date appears
on the horizon, I know exactly where I’ll be
heading first.
LIFE
GIFt LIst
1—Paul Smith
Strobe lights print scarf—£149
2—Fenchurch
‘Lars’ purse—£14
3—Baracuta
‘Nostell’ slim fit houndstooth
harrington jacket—£175
4—Paul Smith
Silver multistripe
cufflinks—£125
5—LK Bennet
Brazil bag, berry—£275
2
3
3
1
4
5
LIFE
6
7
8
9
6—Firetrap
Kate moross for Firetrap
watch—£100
7—Apple
iPOD nano 8GB—£129
8—melvita
men’s after-shave balm—£15
9—LK Bennet
‘Sarah’ fur cape—£125
10—Neal’s yard Remedies
Vibrant collection—£22
10
LIFE
GIFt LIst
13
14
11
11—Paul Smith
multiStripe trim umbrella
—£65
12—Fenchurch
Alpine hate—£17.99
13—Jaeger London
Crystal star keyring—£35
14—Jaeger London
Crystal detail pen—£35
15—London transport
museum 1970s District Line
maquette cushion—£39.99
12
15
LIFE
16
14
16—tatty Devine
Fallen Leaves
necklace—£54
17—Frame, Set & match
Custom framing—
discounted by 10 per cent
for CGJ readers until
24th December
18—Freud
Wooden pepper and salt
mill—£26.55
19—magma Books
Just my type: A book
about fonts, by Simon
Garfield—£14.99
20—miller Harris
Soap set—£35
20
18
17
19
LIFE
LIFE In BrIEF
In BLooM
The Covent Garden Academy of Flowers
9 Slingsby Place, St martin’s Courtyard
020 7240 6359
academyofflowers.com
/Gillian Wheeler, principal of
The Covent Garden Academy
of Flowers
would come to me with projects, and this
meant I could give my students invaluable
experience by involving them in these
projects. We worked for Jaguar at the
Saatchi Gallery and also had projects at
Kew Gardens, tate modern, Natural History
museum, Caxton Hall and Banqueting
House. One of the highlights was the
Royal Ballet School when they had the big
opening for the Darcey Bussell Studio.
Why have you decided to set up The Covent
Garden Academy of Flowers?
Due to the cut backs in education I got
made redundant from the university.
But flowers are very important to me, and
I love teaching, so I decided to open my
own academy. It’s proved a real challenge.
I went from being a teacher to suddenly
having to be a business woman. you name
it I’ve had it thrown at me—I’ve learnt so
much through this process.
Have you always been passionate about
flowers?
According to my mother it started from a
very young age, when as a four-year-old
I’d pick all the flowers in our neighbour’s
garden and then arrange them in jam jars.
I just love everything about flowers. they
are just beautiful and make you feel so
happy. you look at them and can’t help but
smile. I have no favourites—I love them all.
Why choose Covent Garden?
Where better than Covent Garden?
Flowers are a big part of Covent Garden’s
history, and we aim to bring that history
back with our academy. there were many
flower girls in the area. they would stand
under St Paul’s, the Actor’s Church on
the Piazza, selling flowers from baskets—
how colourful it must have been. In my Fair
Lady, eliza Doolittle was a flower seller in
Covent Garden.
Do you have a design background?
I studied an mA in design at Central St
martin’s, which led to an interesting career
covering graphic design, presentation
and visualisation as well as a variety of
exhibition work. I like to bring design and
flowers together, and for 20 years was
a course director at University of the
Arts London, running design courses
up to postgraduate level. through my
connections in the flower world, people
What sort of courses are on offer?
there are courses for everyone, whether
it’s those who simply love flowers and
want to be creative, right through to people
who are thinking about a change of career
and the chance to start their own business
in flowers.
We offer the 30 week Academy Classic
Flower Design Course. this is two days per
week and also involves work placements
and special events. Students look at
design from all aspects—architecture,
fashion, colour. We also offer a four week
intensive course, which focuses more on
the contemporary side of flower design.
And our eight week fast track course is
perfect for those with a part time job, but
who really want to get into flowers in some
way. Our courses are accredited, with each
student receiving an academy diploma.
Don’t you also run special one-day
courses?
these are aimed at people who want to
have an enjoyable day with us, creating
things they never thought possible, plus
we also run special two day courses
for weddings and Christmas. there are
evening courses, where after a hard day’s
work you can come to the academy, enjoy a
glass of wine, have fun and create beautiful
flower designs. With all our courses you
take home absolutely everything you make.
And isn’t there an academy shop?
yes, indeed there is. I’m very lucky because
the academy isn’t just my dream—it’s
also my daughter Fleur’s. the two of us are
working together, which is really lovely, and
Fleur is the head of the retail side of things.
As the buyer she’s really going to develop
the brand with our own range of academy
products, from stationery and fragrances
to beautiful things to have in the home.
And though we won’t be a florist as such,
you will be able to come in and buy—or
order—beautiful flower designs made by
the academy team.
Is flower design simply flower arranging?
It’s quite hard to answer that, because
people see flowers in different ways.
I mean, you can take flowers, pop them
in a vase and they look absolutely
beautiful—just like that. But there’s so
much more you can do. Flowers are just
so versatile. they don’t live very long and
LIFE
Jack of outdoor trades
Despite its name, German outdoors
clothing brand Jack Wolfskin favours
materials of a more high tech and
ethically sound bent than the pelts of
wolves. Famous for its accumulation of
patents and its innovative approach to
design and technology, the company
orIon rIsInG
/Orion London
so you’re creating all the time and
constantly changing your ideas. Flower
design is an art form. that’s recognised
more on the Continent than it is here, which
is something I’m working hard to change.
When is the best season for flowers?
the best season is all of them—there’s
never not a good time for flowers. Winter
has all those lovely berries, the rose
hips and the richness of the Christmas
colours—all those greens and burgundies.
In spring you get all the yellows and the
beautiful bulbs that make you feel happy
and really alive. then comes summer
with all its beautiful smells and wonderful
bouquets of flowers. And finally we move
round into autumn with and its rich golden
colours. In this country we are very lucky
to have such distinct seasons. they are
each so beautiful in their own right.
Can flowers be for men?
I would always give flowers to men.
It’s lovely when men give women flowers,
but I think it’s just as nice for women to
give them to men. We shouldn’t be afraid
to say to somebody, man or woman:
“These are for you, because I was thinking
of you.” I believe flowers should be shared.
men often make the best flower designers.
Design is quite a masculine thing anyway,
so with flower design—as opposed
to maybe floristry—men really do get
interested, because it becomes structural
and sculptural, which has more of a
masculine feel to it. And I believe it’s just
as important for men to be creative as it
is for women. Don’t you?
It’s a rare moment in the life
of a fashion conscious female
when the sartorial dilemma
posed by skirts, shirts and
combinations thereof proves
too haute to handle—but
when it does, you could do a
lot worse than turn to an Orion
dress. Created with one eye
on the folk designs of yore and
another firmly on the palette of
the present, Orion’s colourful
smattering of shifts have long
been brightening up the rails
of topshop and other likeminded boutiques. Followers
include Sarah Harding, Sophie
ellis-Bextor and the queen of
bohemian chic Sienna miller,
who made her Orion debut in
a floral dress at a film premiere
two years ago.
What’s more, the label’s
star is far from waning. Orion’s
inaugural flagship store on
Seven Dials sees the company
embark on its most exciting
trajectory yet, with an extended
range of dresses, together
with imaginative forays into
the spheres of knits and
accessories. Reach for the
marley charming chiffon frill,
shine in the Wendy’s vibrant
prints, or keep your feet firmly
grounded with the Connie’s
block colours and earthy
tones. the difference is in
the dressing.
has become a firm favourite of hikers,
walkers, skiers and other outdoors
enthusiasts. It has now opened a branch
at 19-20 Long Acre, adding a major new
name to the exceptional range of major
outdoor pursuits specialists in Covent
Garden.
jack-wolfskin.com
Orion London
17 monmouth Street, Seven Dials
orionlondonshop.co.uk
LIFE
LIFE In BrIEF
Class in a glass
Online fashion and lifestyle boutique
Glassworks Studios has temporarily
landed on terra firma, setting up
an actual old-fashioned shop, with
walls and windows and everything,
to complement its existing store in
cyberspace. the Glassworks Studios
Winter Store has popped up at 53
monmouth Street, where it will remain
until the end of January, stocking
collections from Glassworks’ favourite
cutting edge designers, including Preen
Line, Jonathan Saunders, Sass & Bide
ExpErt EYE
and markus Lupfer. the fashionable
retailer has quickly got to know its
neighbours by producing an online
guide to the very best of Seven Dials,
which you can find at the link below.
glassworks-studios.com/editorial
Collectif
37 endell Street, Seven Dials
020 7836 3805
collectif.co.uk
/Vintage looks
Nina’s Hair Parlour
020 7723 1911
ninasvintageandretrohair.com
Ramiro Torres has worked in fashion for
the past 30 years. The Spaniard is the
founder of Collectif, a brand acclaimed
among the vintage scene for its clothes
and bags. The shop on Endell Street sells
clothing, accessories and shoes inspired
by the 1940s and 1950s. Here Ramiro
shares some tips on achieving an authentic
vintage look for the party season—to give
you the kind of swagger that made icons
out of Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Page, Audrey
Hepburn, Betty Grable, Marlene Dietrich,
Susan Hayward, Rita Hayworth, Bette
Davis and Jayne Mansfield.
the 1940s and 1950s are really in at the
moment, and the vintage look will definitely
be big this Christmas and New year.
Fashions come back every now and again,
and the 1950s, being one of the strongest
eras in fashion, tends to come back even
more often. It’s just classic and really sexy
without being over the top—perhaps it’s the
simplicity which makes it so sexy. Vintage
clothes are guaranteed to make you stand
out. Our clothes are comfortable, suitable
for pretty much any occasion, and can cross
over. It could be your everyday look, or you
can really dress it up with jewellery and
accessories for that special occasion.
Some of our most popular dresses at the
moment are very much inspired by marilyn
monroe. For example, we’re doing a bunch
of 1950s style Wiggle dresses, which really
accentuate the hourglass shape. And
then we have swing dresses—great for
dancing—which are nipped in at the waist
and then flow out into a full circle skirt. Of
course, you can make them even bigger
by wearing a petticoat underneath. the
classic colours of the era include black, red
and navy, and this season we’re also doing
charcoal and plum, so it’s all about strong,
bold colours. you might also think about
wearing either a cardigan or bolero, and we
have a great selection of coats and jackets.
Once you’ve chosen the perfect dress
you then need to think carefully about
accessories. Hair accessories such as
flowers and clips are worth considering.
Jewellery depends very much on the
person and the occasion, but a classic
look would be a pendant or perhaps even a
string of pearls. though we don’t make the
accessories ourselves, the ones we stock
are carefully chosen to complement our
range of clothes. We have a large selection
of belts designed to be worn at your natural
waist rather than around the hips—these
belts really accentuate the waist.
the size and type of bag needed might
depend on whether you feel inclined to bring
a spare pair of shoes with you. that way
you can arrive at the party in your heels and
then change into some flats for dancing.
We have bags of all shapes, sizes, colours
and patterns, from the black and red
patent bowling bag to the gorgeous Betty
mae leopard print, while our clutches
range from classic plain satin to ones
embellished with bling—so you can
either go for classic or something
more wacky.
Now to the shoes. We stock
Bordello—one of the biggest shoe
brands in the world of vintage. Bordello
shoes are pinup and burlesque
inspired. We also have Iron Fist.
the brand does some wonderful
footwear, which are always just
that bit different. For instance,
the nautical themed ones would
be great fun to wear to a party.
And finally, there’s no
point in having the perfect
vintage inspired outfit,
shoes and accessories
if your hair doesn’t also
look the part? even those
with short hair can wear
a colourful bandana or
go for hair pieces—you
can create any style really.
And for those who really
want to look the part there’s
Nina’s Hair Parlour. Nina is
brilliant, everybody in the
scene knows about her,
and she and her team can
do all of the styles from all of
the eras. We’ve recently begun
hosting weekly Nina’s Hair Parlour
evenings at the Collectif shop. After
making an appointment, customers
come here for whichever vintage style
they fancy—from Victory rolls to classic
updos. It’s a weekly thing. Just ask at
our shop.
LIFE
LIFE In BrIEF
Joules in the crown
After building a devoted following in the
shires and market towns of the country,
rural fashion brand Joules is bringing its
stylish, colourful and gently eccentric
craftings to the big city for the first time.
Arriving at St martin’s Courtyard, Joules’s
Kurt Geiger
1 James Street
kurtgeiger.com
London flagship sells clothes for men,
women and children, all of them with that
definite touch of the countryside—think
rugby, polo, equestrian club dances and
the kind of upper-crust glamour that
would catch the eye of a minor royal.
joules.com
Ministry of Waxing
19a Floral Street
020 7240 7004
ministryofwaxing.com
GEIGEr EncountEr
tHE LInE oF
BEautY
/Kurt Geiger
/Ministry of Waxing
you might think that actually
having a concept would be a basic
qualification for the term ‘new
concept store’, but nine times out
of 10 you’d be wrong: it’s usually
a glorified way of announcing the
arrival of yet another bog standard
chain outlet. every so often,
however, there comes along a
new concept store that is actually
worthy of the name.
One such phenomenon is
Covent Garden’s colourful Kurt
Geiger flagship. the ‘new’ comes
from the fact that it only opened
this autumn, to a stampede of
happy shoeshoppers queuing
along James Street. the
‘concept’ part is derived from
the eclectic and extensive
selection of visual highlights to
be found in store. Leading the
way with considerable aplomb is
the shoe chandelier, a dazzling
creation from the architectural
pioneer John Field. these will
be supported by an elegant
(if somewhat sinister) series
of Schlappi mannequins, and
enough Kurt Geiger own label
shoes to last you, your friends,
and your friends of friends
several well-heeled lifetimes.
Bringing together Kurt Geiger,
Fashionistas, KG by Kurt Geiger
and Carvela, the eminently
covetable collection on show
here is both the mark and the
measure of the designer’s
unearthly popularity. Over 1,000
pairs of shoes and a flurry of well
informed shop assistants make
this the largest KG store, and the
easiest too. What’s more, the
store comes with a bicast leather
promise: never, ever to sell out.
“2,000,000 bushes pruned!” screamed
the magenta press release, which arrived
along with a hairy toy monkey and a bunch
of balloons. the monkey, it transpires, is
a stress ball to help sensitive “brazilian
virgins” (meaning people who’ve never had
a Brazilian wax, apparently, rather than
young maidens from Rio). the balloons
were another way for members to lay
completely bare their allegiance to the
somewhat unorthodox ministry of Waxing.
yes, waxing. the stripping of unsightly
bits from intimate places that, until the
arrival of the ministry, was rarely discussed
outside the dimly lit world of beauty salons.
Partly this is because it’s painful. mostly
it’s because, in straightlaced Britain,
the tactfully titled bikini line makes for a
somewhat prickly conversation topic.
Cue smooth-talking beauty pioneer
Cynthia Chua. Founded in 2001 with a view
to making waxing a “more elegant affair
altogether”, ministry of Waxing is what
it says on the tin: a group of beauticians
dedicated to stripping away waxing’s rather
uncomfortable preconceptions. they call a
spade a spade, a Brazilian a brazilian, and
a back, sack and crack exactly that. their
chatty, no-nonsense waxperts make you
feel as relaxed about the whole process as
possible; no mean feat when that process
involves baring all to a girl you’ve never met.
It helps that the rooms are clean and
warm. It helps that it’s colourful, glamorously
decorated, and not resounding with whale
music. But all this pales into insignificance
by the side of the ministry’s specially
formulated Strawberry Wax. Pink, pain-free
and pleasantly pungent, this is moW’s
answer to the viscous yellow substance
normally associated with hair removal.
First timers—this is your chance to make a
potentially painful rite of passage eminently
more bearable. those waxed under the ‘no
pain, no gain’ school, meanwhile, will find
the whole experience positively enjoyable.
Last one in is a hairy monster.
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Clare Finney finds her
preconceptions about leather
completely overturned by the
extraordinary new collection
at Desa
HIdE
and
prEjudIcE
LIFE
I used to draw the line at leather. Born in a
decade when leather’s greatest champions
were ageing rockers, my experience of the
material was largely confined to old 80s
annuals and an album of photos of my
parents in their heyday—neither of which
drew me towards something which, as
far as I could make out, looked eminently
better on cows.
Leather skirts were a liability, leather
trousers a crime, and leather tops
unthinkable outside of Pochohontas—or
so I thought, until I found Desa. I’d heard
they were opening on St martin’s Courtyard.
I’d heard they were a high quality leather
company. I’d heard their creative director
Fred tutino, had done much to change the
face of leather. But it wasn’t until I was
confronted with the cream of this year’s
autumn/winter collection that I realised
quite how wrong I’d been.
Sweeping trench coats with large leather
buttons. Figure hugging pencil skirts with
billowing chiffon blouses. Cropped leather
jackets of every description, softened and
warmed beyond measure by the imaginative
wool collars, furry linings and soft jersey
panels. these are just a few of Fred’s
imaginative contributions towards a brand
that prior to his appointment had done little
to change its well-worn collection of leather
staples.
“It’s changed a lot,” agrees Fred, when
I mention the notable lack of boots, bags,
belts—those accessories we traditionally
associate with leather—among his
showpiece collection. “We still do bags
and jackets and everything else, loads of
them – but I’ve been there three years and
I’ve changed the logo, I’ve changed the look
of the collection. Now we do everything—
hats, knitwear, the works, but with the
leather detail like that coat with the leather
buttons.”
Classic, edgy, and feminine all at once,
the use of leather detailing on clothes has
become something of a trademark for the
New york-trained designer. “Each season
I try to give them new things to do with the
leather, you know come up with new designs
or shapes.” these include dresses with
leather piping, leather-lined jackets and
a royal blue shirt with thin leather chain
detailing.
“Luckily for us it’s something that is
really on trend at the moment - but it is also
something we always do. Our company has
have been around 40 years and I’ve been
here three. Our factories in Turkey can do
this incredible handiwork, using skills that
have been around hundreds of years. What
LIFE
Desa
6 Slingsby Place, St martin’s Courtyard
desa.uk.com
I try to do is take that skill, put content into it,
and each season take it to a different level.”
Born in South Africa to an Austrian
mother and an Italian Father, Fred’s first
job after graduating from Parson’s fashion
school in New york was on CNN as a stylist
on a fashion show. employment with
several magazines and television channels
followed before, in an ambitious ‘napkin’
plan hatched over drinks, Fred and his
similarly stylish flatmate decided to launch
their own collection. they were just 21.
“We started by going to fabric houses
and asking them for their cheapest fabric,
then designed this really tiny collection,
literally just 25 pieces, which we carried
around to all the stores, then waited for a
response.” they didn’t wait long. much of
their collection consisted of cotton gauze,
a fine but remarkably cheap fabric that
“just happened to be super on-trend”.
Once it had caught the eye of Barney’s in
manhattan, it was only a matter of time
before news spread to rainmakers at the
LA fashion houses.
“It was remarkably successful. Within
a year we had hundreds and hundreds of
stores on our lists”—by which point Fred
was getting increasingly restless. His
european heritage and a brief stint in Paris
some years previously had left him pining
for the continent’s rich and varied culture.
Now, with the money from his venture
burning a hole in his pocket, he decided to
return to the city of lights—and love.
“I gave up my job, sold my part of the
business and my flat and flew. I didn’t have
anything lined up when I got there—I just
left.” In Paris Fred worked as a stylist at
various labels until, five weeks later, he
received a phone call. “Zara’s head office
called and said they were interested to
meet me. At the time I didn’t actually know
what it was, but I went over to Spain to see
them, we talked, and at the end he said,
‘I don’t really know what I want you to do
here exactly but I need you to be here on
Monday’.” Still wondering what this “very
European” label was all about, Fred packed
his barely unpacked bags and moved
again—to Barcelona and an enormous
role as creative director of womenswear.
Fred found himself living the creative’s
dream. “In America, especially at school,
you learn a lot about how fashion is
business. They stick it in your ear again and
again: ‘Fashion is a business, yes you’re
doing beautiful things but at the end of this
someone has to buy it, and wear it, and want
it.’ What is amazing about being in Europe
is that you’re so close to all the factories,
33 Covent
Covent Garden
GardenJournal
JournalIssue
Issue
1008
Winter
Summer
2010/2011
2010
the fabric, the buttons, the yarn, and your
dialogue is directly with that—then because
there is all this history you soak that up
and incorporate it into your design. It’s not
necessarily more creative or hands-on
than the States, but if you’re walking on the
streets of a city and you see things that have
been here for hundreds and hundreds of
years then unconsciously it all comes into
your head.”
Looking at the course that Zara and
then Desa have taken under his
direction, there’s no question that Fred
has been guided by european cities in
general and by London in particular.
there’s a distinct 1940s feel to his heels
and hemlines, inspired by old photos of
wartime Britain, which has been balanced
by the “harder edge” of the more
80s-esque details.
“A lot of people do metallic as a paper
transfer, which quickly peels off. Here we
dye it into the leather, with these big huge
drums, and the colour is much better,”
Fred explains excitedly. the results—
navy pencil skirts with subtle gleam,
bronze-hued tops and brilliant sliver-lined
coats—are a perfect example of how
Desa makes leather modern, exciting
and—most importantly—eminently
wearable. “I try to think of leather not
as leather, but as any other fabric, like
chiffon or silk,” he says, leading me
over to a dress that from a distance
looked like silk, but is in fact made from
the thinnest leather in the world—a
Desa speciality. “There’s not many
people with the capability to do this.
It sets us apart.”
Loathe as he might be to admit it,
it is here that Fred’s business head
comes into his own. Identifying
Desa’s USP, taking techniques from
past generations into the next,
spending time with clients in his
stores and speaking to them
about their lives and needs—
these are all ways in which the
American has translated
europe’s greatest traditions—
artistry, heritage, ritual—into
something that people will
actually buy.
“In our business plan for
‘What is Desa’, we call our style
Innovation through Tradition,”
Fred explains, “which means it’s
probably something that’s quite
classic and wearable, which is
where I think fashion is moving.
And that’s something I like.”
LIFE
nIGHt LIFE
cHaIrMan
oF tHE kEYBoard
/Clifford Slapper, resident pianist,
Crazy Bear
CGJ: Is Clifford Slapper your stage name?
CS: No, it’s actually my real name, despite
what people assume. the only worrying part
is that one or two people who have got to
know me quite well have assumed all along
that it was a nickname—in which case how
on earth did they think I would have earned
such a moniker? I am a Slapper by name,
not by nature.
Did you always dream of being a musician?
As a young child my parents bought me a
little toy piano, and I was never off it, so they
looked up a local piano teacher, an eccentric
old lady in Wembley called miss Beryl Silley.
I had weekly lessons from the age of seven
until just after I passed Grade 8 of the RSm
exams, when miss Silley sadly died. Silley
and Slapper, what a combination! years
later I formed a duo with a young Lancaster
woman called Chira Lovat, so then we
were Slapper & Lovat—we resisted the
temptation to re-spell that.
Name some of the artists you’ve performed
with over the years?
the list includes (in no particular order):
David Bowie, Jarvis Cocker, Lisa Stansfield,
Boy George, Ricky Gervais, Joss Stone,
Suggs, Stereo mCs, Ian Shaw, Anita Kelsey,
Angie Brown, Pete Burns and Dead Or Alive,
Finley Quaye and Alabama 3. In July, I played
as part of a BBC comedy special in which
a group of current comedy stars recreated
some of the sketches of Peter Cook and
Dudley moore which had been wiped
from the archives by the BBC during the
1970s—simply to save money on their tape
stock. It was a special honour to play the
part of the great Dudley moore on the piano.
Is there one artist that particularly sticks
in the memory?
Since the age of 11, when I bought my first
vinyl LP, Aladdin Sane, and my first seven
inch single, Jean Genie, I have remained
a huge fan and admirer of David Bowie.
So it was a great thrill to spend two days
in his company, first rehearsing, and then
filming, for his cameo scene in extras, with
Ricky Gervais. We had a second piano
off-camera, and Bowie was miming to
my playing, so I was actually the hands of
my childhood hero for the day. He was an
LIFE
Crazy Bear Covent Garden
17 mercer Street, Seven Dials
020 7520 5450
crazybeargroup.co.uk
‘‘
Pianists also suffer from the
unfair assumption that we
have a carefree lifestyle not
far removed from the sailors
assumed to have a lover in
every port.
absolute gentleman, generous-hearted and
modest despite being incredibly intelligent,
witty and one of the greatest artistic
innovators of the 20th century.
What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened
during a performance?
there have been enough bizarre incidents
to fill a book. years ago I was playing in a
particularly rough pub over in Surrey Quays.
A fearsome fight broke out around me,
featuring balls from the pool table being
slung murderously across the room at
people’s heads. the landlord stepped over
to the piano and barked: “Keep playing,
son, whatever happens!” At the end of the
night, after he had paid me, his wife took
my hand across the bar and said: “I think
this piano thing is going to work out, I have a
feeling about you.” She wouldn’t let go of my
hand and was staring into my eyes, until her
husband looked up from his Racing Post so
menacingly that I wrenched my hand away
from hers, and made for the door.
How many songs can you play?
I have a repertoire list that has about 600
songs on it, but I am sure the total runs
into thousands. Once you learn to play by
ear you are able to play anything you can
hear in your head. most people could hum
thousands of songs and melodies. It’s just
that I am able to convert that from humming
into notes on the keyboard, with harmonies
and arrangements which I improvise slightly
differently each time. I love playing and
expressing myself through music, and I
think too much is made of the divisions
between different genres. What matters
is that it has soul and is authentic. I play
a variety of material, covering jazz, blues,
soul, pop, rock, funk and some classical.
Is there one number in particular which
results in an impromptu sing-a-long?
It must Be Love (in the style of the version
by madness, rather than the original
by Labi Siffre) always engenders some
participation. this is interesting because at
another club nearby, where Suggs himself
is a regular visitor, he often joins me at the
piano for a few songs and is sometimes
persuaded to sing that huge hit. that is
always a magical moment.
When did you become the resident pianist
at Crazy Bear Covent Garden?
I have been playing here since August,
currently monday to Friday from 5.30pm
to 8.30pm.Crazy Bear is an extraordinary
place with striking and unusual décor, a little
like something from a James Bond set—the
lair of a somewhat camp villain, perhaps—
with superb thai and Japanese food, great
cocktails and a very warm and welcoming
atmosphere.
Hasn’t Crazy Bear just won an award?
yes, and deservedly so. Having played in
hundreds of venues over the years, I must
say that the staff at Crazy Bear are one
of the nicest groups of people I have ever
worked with. they are all pleasant, helpful
and extremely hard working, and there is
a great attention to detail both from them
and from the management team. When the
London Lifestyle Awards were announced
in October, Crazy Bear Covent Garden was
named Best members’ Club.
If you could bring one guest to the club,
who would it be?
One of the most satisfying and thrilling
moments for me in recent years occurred
while I was playing in one small West
end club, when in walked tony Bennett,
fresh from a performance he had given
around the corner at Ronnie Scott’s. the
mere sight of this living legend listening
carefully and enjoying my playing—and then
enthusiastically applauding—was one of
the most gratifying moments of my career.
And finally, is being a pianist a good way to
meet ladies?
Of course. After all, it demonstrates
that one has the self-discipline to have
studied all those years to reach this
standard of playing, as well as creativity,
expressiveness and digital dexterity! On the
other hand, I have yet to meet miss Right, so
perhaps the intensity of public performance
is not an ideal place for a meeting of
minds. Pianists also suffer from the unfair
assumption that we have a carefree lifestyle
not far removed from the sailors assumed
to have a lover in every port—which seems
to have brought us back to my misleading
surname again.
TASTE
/10
TASTE
Viel Richardson meets Peter Gordon, the culinary genius
behind Kopapa—the new restaurant that brings the many
flavours of the world to Seven Dials then fuses them
together, with exquisite results
Melting
pot
Opposite: Spiced berry, maple
syrup and vanilla risotto
This page: Crab custard
TASTE
MElTing poT
‘‘
I treat the world’s
culinary resources
as one huge, exciting
larder. Why wouldn’t
a creative chef want
to try the new, to push
boundaries and make
culinary discoveries?
ANDy PARADISE
“I pass through Seven Dials all the time
and have always thought that it had a
really special atmosphere,” says Michael
McGrath, co-owner and manager of
Kopapa—a new restaurant on Monmouth
Street. “With the trees and the roundabout
it feels to me a little bit French. It also has
a really good collection of restaurants and
shops. I have always felt the area is really
special. In my mind it has its own identity.”
That good collection of restaurants now
has a very special addition to its ranks. With
Michael taking care of things front of house,
the culinary force behind the new restaurant
is his partner Peter Gordon. Born in New
Zealand, Peter is the chef who raised fusion
food from a reputation he once likened to that
of reality TV to a recognised style of cuisine
found on the high end menus of hotels and
restaurants around the world. It is Peter’s
singular take on global ingredients that will
take centre stage at Kopapa.
For Peter, who made his name in the
kitchens of the acclaimed Sugar Club
restaurants in Notting Hill and Soho
before joining with Michael to open the
phenomenally successful Providores in
Marylebone, fusion food takes as its starting
point the belief that any ingredient from
any part of the world has the potential to be
used with any other, as long as the result
tastes good. Who can say, he asks, that you
should never use a Malaysian ingredient in
a traditional British dish? If you raise your
eyebrows in response, he will gently point
out that Worcestershire sauce, that most
British of condiments, contains tamarind—
a decidedly Middle Eastern and Asian
ingredient—yet no-one considers shepherds
pie a fusion dish.
“I treat the world’s culinary resources
as one huge, exciting larder,” says Peter.
“Why wouldn’t a creative chef want to try the
new, to push boundaries and make culinary
discoveries? You never know when a new
classic is in the making”.
Without fusion, Peter says, the Italians
wouldn’t be serving polenta, since corn and
maize are from the Americas. Thai cooks
wouldn’t have chillies or peanuts—again
from the New World—or coriander, which is
a Mediterranean herb. His basic premise is
that ingredients have always travelled, always
mingled, always been ‘fused’, yet for some
reason this creative fusion has fallen out of
fashion.
Of course in the wrong hands—of which
alas there are far too many—the mixing
of unfamiliar ingredients can all too easily
lead to culinary horrors that should never
see the light of day. But with the right blend
of knowledge and experience, combining
Kopapa
32-34 Monmouth Street
kopapa.co.uk
the world’s ingredients can give the diner a
brief glimpse of heaven. And Peter Gordon’s
palate, knowledge and experience are up
there with the very best. Diners can expect
to experience dishes like steamed crab,
shiitake, corn and coconut pots with wasabi
tobikko; miso risotto with chicken livers and
plum compote; and sea urchin panna cotta
with dashi jelly and seaweed. These dishes
might not sound familiar, but that doesn’t
mean they’re anything less than utterly
mouth-watering.
Kopapa will be Peter’s second restaurant
in London, and he also owns highly rated
restaurants in Auckland and Istanbul. It will
serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and there
will also be dedicated pre and post-theatre
menus. Peter fully expects the menu to
evolve over time—in fact that is part of the
plan. “It will really be interesting to see what
the menu is like in the middle of January as
opposed to when we open. Our head chef is
from New Zealand and grew up steeped in
the Asian influences of the region. He has
recently been in a more British atmosphere
and is really excited about the chance to
return to those Asian flavours and textures,
and to really spread his wings. At the start,
the vast majority of the menu will be my
recipes, and I will always be heavily involved
in the menu and regularly be in the kitchen.
But at the same time we want our chef to be
able to express himself and bring some of
his own passions and ideas to the menu.”
Kopapa is a Maori word. Peter is part
Maori, as is Brandon, the third partner in the
project. The team wanted something that
spoke of New Zealand but didn’t want the
Kiwi aspect pushed front and centre. That
presented a bit of a problem—no-one could
think of a name they liked.
“In the end it was the guys in our
restaurants in Turkey who actually came
up with the name. They looked up a Maori
dictionary and just went through it. They
wanted something that meant a gathering
or a crowd or a busy location, and they came
up with Kopapa. The thing is there are so
many Maori dialects. I have asked some
Maori friends and they said, ‘Oh you mean
Kaupapa’, which actually means something
completely different—luckily not rude.
Others said, ‘Oh yeah, my grandmother
used to use it’, while others had not heard
of the word at all. It is a vague word which
suggests a meaning but which has the
beauty of not being tied down too tightly.”
Beautiful, but defying easy
categorisation—the name, it seems, is very
much like the food.
TASTE
TASTE in BRiEF
DESSERT
SToRM
PAUL THOMPSON
/Nancy Mahon of
Aunt Alice Puddings
so already you’ve got rid of that stodge of the
Christmas pudding. Now Aunt Alice wouldn’t
have had access to things like blueberries,
mango, cranberries and morello cherries, but
that’s what I use for mixed fruits. My pudding
also contains things like lexia raisins—
absolutely vital in a Christmas pudding—and
sultanas. Then on top of that you’ve got very
fine spirits. Aunt Alice wrote “the finest you
can find” in her recipe. So the blueberries
get soaked in rum, the morello cherries and
raisins in cognac and the apples in a tiny
amount of calvados.
Wasn’t your Christmas pudding
awarded five stars by the Observer Food
Monthly magazine?
yes, that was Angela Hartnett. Then I won
Best Product at the BBC Good Food Show
up in Birmingham. I do get lots of accolades.
What other puddings do you make?
As far as the fruit puddings are concerned I
make whatever’s in season. Bramley apples
Have you always sold puddings?
were always around to discuss their
are around now and are just fabulous. The
No, I’ve only been doing this for the last
wonderful products with the customer.
rhubarb should be around the whole year, but
10 years. I used to be in politics—in a
Borough Market customers have always
they seem to keep it back for Christmas—the
legal capacity—but I became a bit jaded.
been discerning, and totally loyal, so they’ll
rhubarb sponge pudding is my absolute
And I absolutely love cooking and selling
seek you out wherever you go, including here favourite. At the moment I’ve got blackberries
to people, so this suits me perfectly.
in Covent Garden.
and raspberries fresh from Spain. I also
make lemon puddings and orange puddings.
How did you set up Aunt Alice Puddings?
Tell me more about Aunt Alice.
I use naval oranges as I believe they’re the
I was after a particular steamed pudding,
It was her niece who wrote to me about the
best—they’ve got the sharpness, but also
but couldn’t find one, and so I made my own. recipe. The reason Aunt Alice's Christmas
the sweetness. My best seller is the sticky
It was my son who suggested I sell them. I
pudding was so good is that she had an
toffee. The New yorker once advised its
started at Borough Market in 2000, when
infinite, bottomless pit of money. Alice
readers to seek me out and buy one the next
the market was in its infancy. On my first day was the one in the family who didn’t do
time they were in London. Suddenly I had
I brought 25 puddings and sold out within an embroidery, knitting or whatever it was they queues of Americans looking for them. The
hour. I’d bring more and more each week until did in those days. She liked cooking, and
old fashioned treacle, which is a 250-year-old
I was selling 300—that was back in the good her father, who was working for George V at recipe, is a really elegant pudding, because
old days. And during this time I discovered
the time, said she could do what she liked.
it’s got the juice and the zest of a lemon to
that my great, great aunt Alice (once
I don’t tend to tell that story much anymore, balance it. I think it’s fabulous.
removed) had a Christmas pudding recipe, so because all sorts of strange people
I got that from the family and haven’t looked suddenly came out of the woodwork
What goes into your puddings?
back since. I now have a stall here at the
claiming to be her descendents. And I
I use organic ingredients unless I find a
Covent Garden Real Food Market.
thought: “Oh my God! What if I get big or
better non organic one. For instance, I don’t
something and all these people suddenly
use organic blueberries because they aren’t
What were those early years like?
put a claim on my business.”
as juicy, but the flour, eggs and butter are all
It was great fun. The actual traders at
organic. And I use muscovado rather than
Borough were a load of oddballs, myself
What can you reveal about her
white sugar. Muscovado isn’t organic, but
included. This meant you had this nutty set Christmas pudding?
it’s as pure as you’re going to get and is a
up, one that the customers seemed to really The main things are that it’s very fruity and
fabulous product. I won’t use any artificial
appreciate—they had fun shopping there.
contains hardly any flour. The flour has been additives or preservatives, which is why my
In those days the owners of the businesses replaced by freshly ground organic almonds, puddings only last seven days in the fridge.
TASTE
Aunt Alice Puddings
auntalicepuddings.co.uk
The Real Food Market
(Thurs 11am to 7pm)
The Piazza
Couture cakes
Delicious and, as the name suggests,
deeply fashionable, Sweet Couture
has arrived in Covent Garden, bringing
its beautiful selection of hand-made,
hand-decorated cakes, cupcakes and
muffins. The company has already
achieved a significant profile through
Who makes them?
I do, though at the moment my son is
helping me while he's over from the States.
He's a fabulous cook and certainly more
organised than me. If anything, I would
say he's the better cook as he somehow
manages to get the puddings even lighter
than I can. We make them in a fabulous
kitchen situated at the back of Lambeth
Palace—it’s on hallowed grounds.
/Coffee column
How are you enjoying being at Covent
Garden’s Real Food Market?
I think it’s great. We’re right beside The Royal
Opera House—you can’t get better than
that. I know this area well. I’ve always come
to the ballet here and I once had an antiques
stall over in the Jubilee Market. My husband
was an antiques dealer and after he died
I carried that on for a bit, doing stalls and
looking after the shops. I used to be here
on a Monday—it was good fun. I’ve always
loved Covent Garden and can remember
the old fruit and veg market before it moved.
Back in the 1950s we’d come here for onion
soup after a nightclub—if you wanted you
could get a drink first thing in the morning.
And you’d see a lot of people queuing up for
jobs, offering to shell peas or do whatever
was needed.
So what is it that attracts you to markets?
Well first of all it’s the other traders. I love
the inventiveness. I love the people.
I love the diversity. you’ll get one customer
come up knowing exactly what they want,
another one driving you mad, you know,
it’s wonderful. It’s just that pure theatre—
that’s what I love.
But surely you must hate the wind, rain
and freezing temperatures?
No, that’s when I really sell puddings.
That’s when people need the comfort of
heart warming food. They’ve got to have a
sticky toffee pudding, and then they think:
“Christmas is coming. I’ve got to get the
pudding now.” It’s wonderful.
Do any of your customers dare to pass off
your puddings as their own?
yes, they have to, don’t they? All the
housewives pass them off, absolutely.
I don’t mind one bit. I’m flattered.
selling its cakes in the rarefied settings
of Selfridges and Liberty, and has
become a darling of the glossy magazine
world thanks to its cakes being as
photogenic as they are tasty. Now Sweet
Couture’s own shop on New Row is set
to sweeten the day of many a cake lover.
sweetcouture.co.uk
gRounDS
FoR cElEBRATion
/Angela Holder on why a coffee
grinder makes a perfect present
Forget expensive, exclusive, amusingly
named coffees. With Christmas looming,
the best thing you can buy for a coffee lover
is a coffee grinder. This is most definitely
the gift that keeps on giving, since by itself
it guarantees to raise their home coffee
experience several notches in one go. If they
already have a grinder, the next best thing
is to buy them tasters of different origins,
farms or botanical varieties so they can do
side by side cupping. Of course either gift
guarantees that you will lose them to the
kitchen for several hours and then find it
covered in coffee, but be assured, they will
be happy. And caffeinated.
A grinder is fundamental to the coffee
making process. Try putting a handful of
whole beans in hot water to make a coffee
and you’ll see just how fundamental. Now
try bashing them up in a pestle and mortar
and see how much more quickly the coffee
starts to infuse. It’s simple—the smaller
the pieces, the faster your drink will be
ready, but steep it too long and it gets
over-extracted and bitter. This is why the
grind size needs to be balanced against
the speed of the coffee making method.
The finer the grind, the smaller the coffee
pieces. Espresso machines, 25 seconds
per coffee, very fine grind. Cafetieres, three
to five minutes, medium to coarse grind.
One grind does not suit all.
There are a variety of grinders available, so
here’s my rough guide on what’s out there:
1—Coffee beans are surprisingly hard.
Good build quality and a strong motor
are essential. you don’t have to spend
thousands (although you could), but it’s
worth spending a few tenners.
2—Hand grinders are romantic and look
pretty, but unless they clamp onto a counter
and have a big turning handle they are
too exhausting for most people. If your
loved one doesn’t fancy aerobic exercise
while making their coffee, it will quickly be
consigned to the back of the cupboard.
3—‘Coffee and spice’ grinders don’t grind,
so much as chop the coffee and it’s difficult
to get an even, controlled particle size.
The coffee around the blades becomes
powder and around the tips the pieces are
coarser, affecting the extraction and the
flavour, and not in a good way.
4—The best grinders have a dial to control
the grind size, a hopper for the whole beans
and a container to collect grinds. The coffee
passes once through a set of grinding
plates or burrs. This results in grind sizes
that are controllable and repeatable.
5—Buying a second hand professional
or ex-cafe grinder is one way of getting
your hands on a better quality, heavy duty
machine for less cash. The downsides
are it will need refurbishing, won’t look as
pretty as the domestic variety and will take
up more counter space. It may also need
a three phase power supply, but you might
just give the proto-coffee geek in your life
their best Christmas ever.
TASTE
TASTE in BRiEF
Beauty salons
Restaurateurs Will Smith and Anthony
Demetre have something of a golden
touch. First with Soho’s Arbutus,
then Mayfair’s Wild Honey, they have
managed to serve up some wonderful
cooking in attractive environments while
RARE TREAT
/Hawksmoor Seven Dials
Located on the site of the old WatneyCombe brewery the Hawksmoor Seven
Dials steak restaurant and cocktail bar is
co-owners Will Beckett and Huw Gott’s first
West End venue and a sister to the hugely
popular Hawksmoor Spitalfields, which
reignited London’s love affair with steak
when it opened in 2006.
This unpretentious, quality obsessed
steakhouse serves exclusively British beef.
The steaks come from Longhorn cattle that
have been lovingly reared in North yorkshire
by The Ginger Pig, and are dry-aged for at
least 35 days before being simply cooked
on a real charcoal grill. The choicest cuts
include dictionary-thick Bone-in Sirloin
and the 55 day aged D-Rump, leaving just
enough room on the plate for grilled bone
marrow and triple-cooked duck fat chips.
The Hawksmoor’s legendary cocktail
list has been given a thorough update for
Seven Dials. Head bartender Pete Jeary has
hunted down long out-of-print recipes and
developed new drinks, drawing heavily on
the pre-Prohibition golden era of American
cocktails. The results, summed up in the
History of the Cocktail in 10 Drinks, are
spectacular. Highlights include the very first
printed punch recipe from 1672 (Hannah
Wooley’s Punch) and the much maligned
1970s favourite, the Piña Colada.
While the new list features old favourite
Juleps, Aromatics and Fizzes, The Bridging
Drinks are new additions. These revive
an Edwardian tradition designed to give
the moneyed classes something to do
between their last post-lunch port and their
first pre-dinner martini. These are light
drinks, usually made with Champagne, and
include a Bucks Fizz made to the original
1921 recipe (complete with gin and a dash
of homemade cherry liqueur), Champagne
Charlie (gin, lemon juice, homemade
seasonal fruit syrup and champagne) and
The Dandy (cognac, maraschino, sugar,
Benedictine and champagne).
avoiding the piratical levels of pricing
associated with so many of London’s
fine dining establishments. Now they’ve
arrived in Covent Garden, with their third
restaurant, Les Deux Salons, opening at
40-42 William IV Street to rave reviews.
In a large, spacious and self consciously
pAying ThE Bill
/Bill’s Produce Store
Bill Collison had been a grocer
in the picturesque East Sussex
town of Lewes for 20 years
before deciding, in 2001, that
he really ought to start cooking
up some of his fabulous locallysourced produce and serving it
to his customers. Bill’s Produce
Store quickly became famous
for simple, nutritious, tasty and
thoroughly unpretentious fare,
served up against a colourful,
fragrant backdrop of fruit and
vegetables. The breakfasts in
particular began to show up in
more Best Breakfast lists in the
Gallic-looking space, Les Deux Salons
offers gutsy French brasserie cooking,
with an emphasis on simplicity and
classicism. Popular dishes include slowcooked ox cheeks, saddle of rabbit, and
halibut with razor clams.
lesdeuxsalons.co.uk
Bill’s Produce Store
billsproducestore.co.uk
national press than you probably
even knew existed.
Two more outlets followed,
one in Brighton and one in
Reading, both following the
same principles of buying top
quality fresh organic produce
from respected local producers,
then cooking it up in the café or
selling it in the shop alongside
delicious deli items. Now Bill and
his produce have arrived in St
Martin’s Courtyard. Breakfast in
Covent Garden (and lunch, and
dinner, for that matter) will never
be the same again.
TASTE
5 oF ThE BEST
A feast for all the senses
Notes Music & Coffee, recently opened
next to the Coliseum on St Martin’s Lane,
has just about all of the most important
senses covered. Visually, it is a feast
—a stunning Grade II* listed unit with
original features loving restored.
For the taste buds, it is, well, another
feast, with top quality coffee and
seasonal salads and sandwiches.
And your ears are also taken care of,
with a music shop featuring classical,
jazz and world music CDs.
notesmusiccoffee.com
FooD oF lovE
/Romantic eats
The one that will have you kissing
in French
True romance can be found through the
doors of Clos Maggiore. Influenced by
the stylish country inns of Provence,
this restaurant’s unique interior boasts
a muted décor, low lighting and hanging
flowers. Book a table for two under the
conservatory’s glass roof and you’ll dine
under the stars, making eyes at one
another beside the crackling fire. The
seasonally inspired classic French cuisine
includes braised shoulder of Loire Valley
rabbit with sweet and sour black radish
and wholegrain mustard mousseline.
To follow, allow yourselves to be wooed
by slow cooked suckling pig belly, or
caramelised honey-glazed Gressingham
duck breast with roasted red plums.
And for a bit of afters, share a Valrhona
chocolate and Griottine fondant. The wine
cellar houses over 2,000 selections from
18 countries, spanning four centuries.
Pure liquid love.
Clos Maggiore
33 King Street
020 7379 9696
closmaggiore.com
The one even Parisians are polite about
Treat your loved one to a beautifully
ribboned box of macarons. The Bougie Tea
House specialises in these delicate, slightly
chewy biscuits made from a combination
of the finest almond, egg and organic cane
sugar. Each macaron is then sandwiched
with the most luxuriously sumptuous
ganache. Invented during the reign of Louis
XIV, macarons are hugely popular across
France, lighting up patisserie windows in
seemingly infinite numbers of bright colours
and flavours. At Bougie Tea House the
macarons are freshly made downstairs by
Jean Herve Nedelec, whose flavours include
chocolate, raspberry, lemon and pistachio.
In Paris they like to admire a macaron for its
elegant shape and beautiful colour. But in
Covent Garden the fashion is to shove it in
your mouth, biting through the crunch of the
crispy outer shell of the biscuit and into the
heaven of the creamy filling. Ooh la la!
Bougie Tea House
3 Russell Street
bougie.co.uk
The one that will have you running to the
bedroom—or the toilet!
Ah yes, oysters—nature’s aphrodisiac.
What better way to seal the deal than over
a plate of fresh oysters and a glass of the
finest bubbly at J Sheekey Oyster Bar.
Although emulating the classic style of the
main restaurant, the oyster bar is more
informal, with seating around an elegant
horseshoe-shaped bar. And though it’s
possible to do things by half measures,
sparks will definitely fly over a dirty dozen
of the finest oysters. The choice of mollusc
includes West Mercia Pearls, Strangford
Lough Rocks, Kingdom of Mourne Rocks
and Fines de Claire, any of which would
make the perfect partner to a glass of
Gaston Chiquet champagne. Then again,
you could always splash out on a bottle of
Krug Grande Cuvee NV, a snip at £187 a
bottle. Now that would be true love.
J Sheekey Oyster Bar
33-34 St Martin’s Court
020 7240 2565
j-sheekey.co.uk
The one that will make a lady forget about
clothes
Godiva Chocolatier’s limited edition
Valentine’s Collection is a true celebration
of love. you can double your love with a box
of Coeurs Duo chocolates. Each chocolate
features a delicious double filling of varied
fruits and nuts, with a dual-coloured
chocolate shell hinting at the fruit flavour
hidden within. Alternatively, seduce your
sweetheart with one of Godiva’s Romantic
Heart boxes. Wrapped in a seductive
red fabric, and decorated with silky red
ribbons and satin roses, the box forms the
perfect package for the most romantic of
chocolates. Combined with a selection
of exquisite caramels and ganaches, an
array of delectable pralines will complete
each luxurious box. Then again, maybe
you will be swayed by the Valentine Truffle
gift box, a burgundy and pink box holding
a selection of truffles, ranging from crème
brulee to an almond praline with honey.
Godiva Chocolatier
17 Russell Street
020 7836 5706
godiva.be
The one that makes your love horizontal
If music be the food of love, then cocktails
are the very thing to wash it down. Detroit
Bar is a great place for two lovebirds to
share a romantic cocktail, hidden away
downstairs in one of the cosy alcoves,
where it’s possible to lose all sense of
time. If you have a penchant for a Burning
Bush, then it’s a hot and steamy affair of
Irish whiskey, peach puree, cassis, sugar
syrup, cranberry juice and lemon juice.
For something altogether more Dark and
Stormy, then it’s Myer’s rum, fresh lime
juice, ginger beer and angostura bitters.
But to really raise the temperature, order
a 42 Celcius of passion fruit, vodka,
fresh passion fruit, elderflower cordial
and lime juice. Or maybe just blow on a
Flute—a champagne cocktail made with
cognac, sugar cube, angostura bitters
and champagne. The shooters include
intriguingly named Devil’s Hammer, made
with absinthe, tuaca and kahlua—proof
that you can hurry love.
Detroit Bar
35 Earlham Street, Seven Dials
020 7240 2662
detroit-bar.com
ARTS
/10
H
g
Hi S
R
e
l
l
o
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arts
Skateboarding fosters creativity to an extent rarely matched
by other outdoor pursuits. Shannon Denny meets artist,
skater and Slam City regular Arran Gregory to find out why
“Any skateboarder ends up being drawn to
London like a magnet,” says Arran Gregory.
Where you or I might see concrete seating,
a handrail and a staircase, a skater sees
infinite possibilities. A bench forms the
basis for a trick, a rail becomes a surface
to slide on and steps offer a whole new way
of envisaging and navigating space.
“Skateboarding’s a really good way of
mapping out a city,” he says. “We have
alternate routes that we take. There’s a route
that shoppers have in their heads of London,
there’s a tourist route, and then there’s
skateboarders. Our route takes us to really
random places and backstreets. We’ve got
this weird map in our heads.”
For going on 25 years, that map has
included Slam City Skates. The cobbles
and crowds make skating in Covent Garden
impossible, but kids in sneakers carrying
boards bearing four wheels have been
beating a track here since the mid-Eighties.
Arran’s only slightly younger than the
Neal’s Yard landmark, and reckons he first
became a customer around the age of 14.
Today however the Chelsea College of Art
graduate, fine artist and graphic designer is
as likely to be contributing his creative vision
in the shop as he is to flip through their racks
or pore over recently arrived gear. His first
design project for Slam City, an iconic range
of t-shirts depicting grizzly bears, pigeons
and Big Ben, was followed this autumn by
a collaboration with Emerica resulting in a
limited-edition shoe featuring Arran’s art
exclusive to the shop. Next year Arran’s
series of eye-catching decks is set to hit the
shelves for Slam’s silver jubilee.
These endeavours exemplify the
phenomenon that sees visual arts playing a
surprisingly prominent role within the skate
community; as an activity certainly skating
attracts far more than its fair share of fans
from the creative industries. Just as golf is
the pursuit of choice among doctors, skating
draws scores of designers and artists.
A store catering to skaters is likely to have
original art on its walls, screens showing
cutting-edge video and gear featuring a huge
diversity of graphics on every surface.
You just don’t get such a strong visual
element in other sports or hobbies—can
you imagine swimming or cricket being so
infused with artistic endeavour?
arts
high rollers
Contrary to popular belief, it seems
there’s a lot more to skate culture than
baiting security guards and raising hell on
walkways, and Arran’s perfectly placed to
explain why exceptional graphic art and
boundary-pushing video are integral to this
urban activity propelled on polyurethane
wheels. “Skateboarding’s not really
perceived as a sport by those who practice
it,” he begins. “It sounds cheesy, but it is
a lifestyle. In that lifestyle there aren’t any
rules like you get in most sports.”
Without the constructs of seasons,
periods, leagues or matches, there’s none
of the in-built hierarchy found in many
traditional organised physical pursuits.
“Skateboarding is all about freedom and
self-expression in space. I think that’s what
leads to skateboarders being creative; it’s
all to do with vision.”
Opening your mind to view the world with
child-like wonder is a skill practiced not
just by skaters of course, but by artists too.
“When you’re a kid you walk around a city
and all you do is look for things to play on.
The environment is your playground,” Arran
reasons, pointing to the tendency of children
to find fascination in stepping stones, to turn
puddles into paddling pools or re-imagine
railings as climbing frames. “Then society
teaches you to grow up basically so you
don’t do that anymore. But when you skate,
you keep that vision and you stay in that
kind of playful mindset, where everything
in your environment is a means for selfexpression and the skateboard’s the tool,
like the artist’s paintbrush. That’s why
skateboarders are very creative; it’s in
their nature.”
The theme is one explored in Beautiful
Losers, Aaron Rose’s documentary about
the nexus of street art and skating that
inspired last summer’s exhibition in Covent
Garden’s Jubilee Market, DIY London Seen,
which featured Arran’s sculpture “Mirrorball
Bear”. Including the work of 20 artists, the
show was covered by the New York Times,
the Guardian, BBC News and the Evening
Standard—proof that art fuelled by skating
goes much further than graffiti splashed up
a derelict pedestrian underpass.
In truth, skating is inherently visual. “It’s
amazing how skateboard videos are always
quite ahead of their time,” says Arran.
“They’re always super-creative.” It’s not at
all uncommon for techniques born in dark
concrete corners of London find their way
into mainstream cinema, documentary films
and music videos.
Forward-thinking video edits provide a
way to preserve and celebrate super-human
movements that are over in an instant. “It’s
a way of portraying the experience. When it
happens in real life, it happens in a second,”
he says. “If you were to call a skater an
artist, which I would argue you could, then
when people are doing a mad trick it’s
creating a spectacle. When it’s actually
happening the skateboarder doesn’t get to
see the trick, just experience it.”
In the act of nailing tricks, a skater has to
tap into his or her own innate inventiveness.
Actively thinking about being creative
doesn’t enter the equation. “When you’re
skating you’re free,” Arran explains. “You
can’t be thinking about design when you’re
trying to broadside a handrail down a
10-stair because you’re just going to break
your neck.”
The artist’s recent show at the Trafalgar
Hotel has just come down and he’s hard
at work preparing to mount his first solo
exhibition at the Wayward Gallery, a space
at the new epicentre of the London art
‘‘
You can’t be thinking about
design when you’re trying to
broadside a handrail down
a 10-stair because you’re just
going to break your neck.
arts
Slam City Skates
16 Neals Yard
020 7240 0928
slamcity.com
HENRY KINGSFORD
Arran Gregory
arrangregory.com
fingerscrossed1.blogspot.com
scene off Vyner Street in East London.
While he doesn’t think about issues of
art and design when he’s skating, neither
does he ponder the possibility of injury
which could put a serious damper on his
professional productivity. “I never think
about that. It’s just not worth thinking about
because then it’ll happen!” he laughs.
The absence of rules and the intrinsic
spirit of liberty in skating means that the
community is a notably supportive one.
The fact that it attracts everyone from
death metal fans to followers of hip hop to
clean-cut, on-trend hipsters is evidence
of “the freedom of the culture,” says Arran.
“Everyone gets on with everyone because
of skating. You go do Southbank, you shake
everyone’s hand and you say hello to the
kids. Everyone’s appreciative of each other;
that’s just what skateboarding’s like.”
When Arran talks about Southbank,
he’s speaking of that colourful concrete
underworld beneath Queen Elizabeth Hall
on the south side of the Thames that’s been
used as an impromptu skate park since
the 70s. It’s the capital of skateboarding in
Britain. “I used to come into London with all
my little skate crew back in the day, just rock
up on the train and then skate Southbank
and Shell Centre—we didn’t know anywhere
else. We used to get on the Tube to go
to Slam City Skates and then one day
someone was like, ‘You know it’s just across
the river.’ We didn’t know London at all!”
Devoted colonies spring up around shops
that offer goods and services to skaters,
often fostering a spirit of collaboration.
“Slam City Skates is the only skater-run
shop in Covent Garden. It’s like the hub, the
main home of the skate scene in the UK,”
says Arran. In recent years, more amenities
centred on skate lifestyle have made their
home in the district too. And like Slam City,
they’re keen to develop and promote the
close ties between skating and art.
Open in Neal Street only since summer,
WeSC—which stands for We Are the
Superlative Conspiracy—places creativity
high on the agenda. Plenty of brands
sponsor skaters, but WeSC instead has
WeActivists. There are about 70 of these
informal ambassadors, selected for being
extremely good at what they do. Some
are world famous and some are totally
unknown. In addition to skaters and
showboarders, there are chefs, filmmakers,
musicians, photographers, writers,
directors and DJs. A few—Love Eneroth,
Clint Peterson and Chris Pastras—are
skateboarders and artists.
Around the corner, street fashion brand
Fenchurch list the four pillars of its brand
as art, fashion, skate and music. Recently
they’ve really been pushing the creative
envelope in the direction of sound. Their
flagship in Earlham Street hosts frequent
DJ sessions, while they regularly collaborate
with musicians to create exclusive podcasts
and mixes. There are currently over 30 such
pieces of aural art available for download
on their website, from Canadian duo Love
& Electrik to Swedish dubstep crew All Out
Dubstep to French DJ Toxic Avenger.
Volcom has been a fixture for skaters,
surfers and snowboarders in Seven
Dials for two years, but the labels existed
since 1991. Almost since the start,
Volcom has celebrated creativity by giving
established and aspiring artists the chance
to express themselves through their
Featured Artist Series. They also run an
in-house independent record label, Volcom
Entertainment.
So much for the notion that all skaters
are slackers then. I wonder, could this
mix of imagination, art and music be no
coincidence, but instead an inevitable
by-product of skating itself? With a grin,
Arran acknowledges, “Skateboarding isn’t
what people normally think.”
arts
iT TAkeS
TeA To TAngo
Amy Laughinghouse cuts some old fashioned
rug at The Waldorf Hilton’s tango tea
A silver-haired bandleader in a white coat
and black bow tie croons into a microphone
as women in towering heels and men in
wingtips whirl across a marble dance floor.
Other elegantly attired couples are clustered
around gold linen-draped tables, sipping
bubbly from champagne flutes or nibbling
on finger sandwiches and delicate pastries,
furtively checking their reflections in mirrored
alcoves framed by ornate plaster columns.
It could be a scene from Mad Men, but in
fact, it’s a 21st Century Tango Tea, one of the
most original and popular takes on London’s
irrepressible tea culture. This event—held
every two months at The Waldorf Hilton
hotel, an Edwardian grande dame near the
thriving theater district—offers a hearty side
of ballroom and Latin dancing along with the
obligatory tea and scones.
While I love to dance, my limited moves,
honed to the likes of Wham! and Modern
English, don’t exactly translate to the foxtrot
and the cha-cha. And although my husband
Scott is perfectly competent in the side-toside shuffle, he hasn’t attempted anything
more ambitious since my parents, who
misguidedly envisioned us waltzing at our
wedding reception, arranged a lesson for the
morning after his stag do. With Scott’s head
still spinning one way and his feet attempting
to spin the other, it was not what you would
call a resounding success. (In the end, we cut
the rug as a newly married couple by swaying
spasmodically to More Than Words, a powerballad by the 90s hair band Extreme, much to
my parents’ everlasting disappointment).
I’m thus somewhat amazed that my
husband has agreed to accompany me
this afternoon, given the fact that, to this
day, he turns green every time he hears the
opening strains of The Blue Danube. But a
glass of champagne seems to settle Scott’s
arts
The Waldorf Hilton
Aldwych
020 7836 2400
hilton.co.uk/waldorf
Tango Tea Dance held approximately every
two months. £65 per person, including
your meal and a glass of champagne.
Reservations required. Contact Simply
Dancing Partners to arrange dance lessons
or hire a dancing partner for the Tango Tea.
Telephone +44 (0)20 7736 4493
simplydancingpartners.co.uk
stomach, and we find that even if you’re
congenitally left-footed, ballroom dancing
makes an excellent spectator sport.
Men and women alike pose and preen
while doing the rumba, colliding in refined
slow motion at one end of the dance floor.
A lady twirls in the loose grasp of her svelte
partner, the layers of her gossamer pink
dress floating like rose petals on a breeze.
An older couple moves with a familiar rhythm
in each other’s arms, sharing small private
smiles and softly singing the words to As
Time Goes By.
Then the band ratchets up the energy
with a jive tune, and the dancers’ legs turn to
spring-loaded jelly. Skirts swirl. Hips swivel.
Couples do complicated spins involving the
rapid-fire rotation of armpits and elbows.
We’ve never seen such a bendy bunch of
folks outside the Cirque du Soleil.
When a pair of professional dancers takes
the floor to demonstrate the Argentine Tango,
it’s like watching a ritualized mating dance.
Gazing hungrily into each other’s eyes, their
legs intertwine, as if joined by an invisible
string. I almost blush when the woman tickles
the back of her partner’s leg with the tip of her
toe before sliding to the floor in her slit-up-tothere form-fitting black gown.
The Waldorf first began offering tea
dances in its Palm Court ballroom shortly
after this scandalously sexy dance arrived in
England in 1910. As one appalled reporter
sniped at the time, “The guests of the hotel
and those who have time to idle away seem
to have gone mad over the ‘tango tea…’
Just where this craze will lead to is a matter
for serious speculation. Already the police
are beginning to take notice in quarters that
were previously beyond question, and to
curb the freedom and promiscuous ‘teas.’”
The hotel more or less mothballed the
gatherings in 1939 when a German bomb
landed nearby, shattering the Palm Court’s
glass roof. But fleet-footed Fred and Ginger
pairings are once again bringing down the
house, thanks to Jenni Kravitz, who began
organizing these events at the hotel in 2007,
a year after founding the Simply Dancing
Partners dance school in London.
“I had this dream that one day a man
would come along and say, ‘Would you like
to dance with me,’ but everybody that
I met had two left feet and was proud of it,”
says Kravitz, explaining how she got started.
“Then Simply Come Dancing came onto the
TV, and I got so excited by it. I thought, if I
don’t do this now, I’m never going to do it.”
After attending classes at several other
schools, where the female-to-male ratio
was inevitably ten-to-one, the former IT
professional decided to found her own
program. The difference between other
services and her own, Kravitz says, is that
she provides skilled dancing partners of
the opposite sex for every student.
“Everybody is matched up,” says
Kravitz, who welcomes both male and
female clients. “Every time you come, you
will be guaranteed to dance with a roomful
of partners whose only concern is to
make sure that you get a good evening’s
instruction.”
While Kravitz offers a comprehensive
15-week course, teaching everything from
the foxtrot, cha-cha, quick step and waltz to
salsa, samba, rumba, tango and jive, she
can also arrange an hour-long lesson held
just before The Waldorf Hilton’s “Tango Tea”
begins, allowing folks to brush-up on their
moves with a paid partner for £25. For £50,
you can hire a dance partner for the entire
three-hour dance, as Mark Wesley of West
Sussex has done for his girlfriend, Hayley
Williams of Sevenoaks
in Kent.
“Because I don’t dance, and I know
Hayley enjoys it, I wanted to see her being
spun around the floor,” explains Wesley, who
has brought Williams here for her birthday.
“I get my enjoyment out of that.”
“It’s brilliant, a wonderful experience—
better than having a piece of jewellery,”
insists Williams, who is clearly thrilled with
Wesley’s gift. “One of the dancers, he really
whipped me around the floor, pushed me to
my limits,” she says, her cheeks infused with
pink. “I especially like the quick step.
That is one that you can get a leg-on around
the dance floor. It’s like a workout—very
good exercise.”
Any lingering doubts regarding the
physical exertion required by a lively twirl
are extinguished by the final demonstration
dance, a Latin number performed by Elena
Plescenco and Carlos Custodio. Plescenco,
attired in a long flowing red skirt, clicks her
improbably high heels and charges her
partner, spinning into the arms of Custodio,
who is dressed in a matador’s white cropped
jacket. It’s a passionate, fast-paced dance of
daring and temptation that makes my pulse
pound just watching it.
Even Scott’s toes are finally tapping.
What’s more, upon learning that the lovely
Plescenco is one of Kravitz’ teachers, he
seems to have decided, after all these years,
that ballroom dance lessons might be his cup
of tea after all.
arts
ARTS in BRieF
Potted Panto
First the Reduced Shakespeare
Company, and now this: a two-hour,
two-person, pint-sized production of
all that Britain’s panto tradition has to
offer—including Cinderella in 3D, and
“full-scale” versions of Snow White and
Sleeping Beauty. The idea began, like
all the best do, at the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival, where children’s TV presenters
Dan and Jeff had the crowd in hysterics
with Potted Potter, the duo’s dramatically
reduced version of the boy wizard’s
blockbuster. Realising they were onto
a good thing, they launched Potted
Pirates—same principle but with Pirate
yarns—before deciding to take on the
institution of pantomime. Cue cringing,
laughter and behind yous a-plenty as
the two men introduce the “first-ever
Fairy Godchicken”, a princess face-off
and two men attempting to play seven
dwarves between them.
vaudeville-theatre.co.uk
King Lear
3rd December—5th February
Donmar Warehouse
41 Earlham St
donmarwarehouse.com
THe king
AnD eYe
/King Lear
“Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,
and thou no breath at all?” Even if the rest
of Shakespeare’s great tragedy was riddled
with flaws, it would be worth seeing just
for this quote, arguably literature’s most
powerful approximation of what it means
to love and lose. As it is, this poignant
exchange between father and daughter
is just one of a hundred such moments to
be found in the play. The premise of the
story is simple enough: three sisters, two
ugly, whose royal father fails tragically to
distinguish between genuine affection
and the filial greed. In the hands of
Shakespeare, however, this thread is
transformed into a theatrical tapestry
so rich and steeped in meaning that no
amount of viewing could ever hope to
unpick it from its emotional whole.
Just as well then that this tale of very royal
madness is showing yet again. Pippa
Bennett-Warner will be plucking heart
strings as Cordelia, whilst Derek Jacobi is
stepping into the cavernous boots left by
Ian McKellan—as the King himself.
arts
When We Are Married
Turns out the Vaudeville isn’t the only
theatre in Covent Garden to be taking
a swipe at holy matrimony this season.
After a surprisingly successful foray into
the States, JB Priestly is back in the West
End with his best loved comedy, When
We Are Married. Set in a village hall in
West Rising, Priestley’s tale of wedded
strife is a northerner’s take on the
institution: bold, brassy and brimming
with his own peculiar brand of farce.
That said, you’d be sorely mistaken if
you thought this Yorkshireman’s home
truths anything other than universal.
garrick-theatre.co.uk
An Ideal Husband
Until 19th February
Vaudeville Theatre
404 Strand
A TAle oF TWo
HAlVeS
/Inside Story
Our anonymous West End
insider gives a backstage
view of life in Theatreland
/An Ideal Husband
FRoM THe
CReW RooM/
THe gReAT
ouTDooRS
There is no doubt about it that to the casual
observer theatre hours are anti-social. After
all most peoples’ meeting up with the gang
time coincides with when most of us theatre
types turn up for work.
But what they never think of are the sunny
afternoons. While most people are sitting
bashing away at some flavour of computer
wishing they could be out enjoying nature’s
bounty, I have the freedom of the city. But
occasionally they are better off exactly
where they are.
After a run of sunny days, some
backstage wag will inevitably suggest a
gathering outdoors—often Regent’s Park
—for some kind of sporting activity. Now,
in far off days when all our summers were
long I showed some promise at that noblest
of games—cricket. So even though on this
particular occasion the sporting activity
was baseball (a strange sport—what kind
of shape is that for a bat?) I went along. It all
started well and, flushed with the success of
a few feather-light catches, and memories
of a youth plucking cricket balls out of the air
I got careless. Or, if I am to be truly honest,
a little bit smug, and paid too little attention
to the next incoming missile. I held my hand
a shade too low and, as a result, the ball
sailed blissfully over the fingers and into the
temple. My temple to be precise.
After that I’m afraid things get a bit hazy.
However I’m reliably informed that I stayed
standing perfectly still while a collective
“Ouch that must hurt” went around the
group. Then the gentle stroll in my direction
apparently became a more urgent run
as I collapsed—rather gracefully I am
informed—flat onto the grass. My next
memory is of a beautiful blue sky ringed by a
circle of faces. It was rather pleasant really.
But then I remembered the missed ball, a
dull thud, and with that the realisation that I
was almost certainly lying on the ground. At
which point it all became a lot less pleasant.
After several nauseous hours of waiting
around, talking to a collection of charming
people in white coats and more waiting
around, the decision was in—concussion.
I was dispatched home by the men in
white and told to stay there for a week, in
a darkened room and drink a lot of liquids.
No reading, not too much television and
absolutely no alcohol, but the medics
know what they are about and so I did as
instructed. As I spent the following week
immersed in the radio and the wallpaper
I was struck by two thoughts. Firstly why
on earth does anybody drink water? And
secondly while I am indeed at work while
everybody else is out and about, the
opposite is also true. My job gives me the
freedom of a city without crowds. I get
things like wide open spaces on a sunny
day in a London park. All in all, I think I have
the better side of the deal. Just as long as I
remember that my days of swan diving after
flying balls are behind me.
If theatre was the bread of Oscar
Wilde’s beautiful career, than
oxymorons were most certainly
the butter—the rhetorical
condiment by which he declared
his incomparable genius. Nowhere
is this synergy more evident than
in Wilde’s bitingly political satire,
An Ideal Husband. Set in the
gentrified present of 18th century
London, the play opens with Sir
Robert Chiltern, a prestigious
member of the House of
Commons, his wife Lady Chiltern
and a handpicked selection of
beautiful people. Of course, Wilde
wouldn’t be a Wilde without a
dandified bachelor, played here
by Lost in Austen heartthrob Elliot
Cowan—yet when it comes to
Wilde’s customary rupturing of the
refined surface, it isn’t Lord Goring
who’s responsible, but a certain
Mrs Cheverly: childhood enemy of
Lady Chiltern and secret keeper to
her seemingly spotless husband.
In this most political of
Wilde’s social satires, ministerial
responsibilities and marital duties
are aligned with devastating
effect. Samantha Bond seems
made for her role as the cunning
Mrs Chevelry, whilst Alex Hanson’s
performances in Sunset Boulevard
and The Bill more than qualify
him for his role as a man with
a secret. Returning to Covent
Garden almost 120 years after
premiering at the Haymarket,
An Ideal Husband is Wilde at his
wittiest—and his wisest.
arts
exHiBiT
DioR illuSTRATeD: René
gRuAu AnD THe line oF
BeAuTY
10th November—9th January
/Somerset House
Embankment Galleries
Somerset House
Strand
020 7845 4600
somersethouse.org.uk
It’s not every day an exhibition places
an illustrator on an equal footing with a
world-famous fashion designer. Then
again, not every illustrator is Rene Gruau:
in-house artist for House of Dior, illustrator
extraordinaire—oh, and Christian’s bezzie
mate. Long before J’Adore became a bestselling perfume beloved by millions, Rene
Gruau was expressing a similar sentiment
in the bold lines and vivid colours of his work.
His magazine sketches and Christian Dior
Parfum illustrations, insightfully displayed
alongside a selection of the designer’s
Haute Couture dresses, speak of a rich
and productive relationship between the
two men. Unsurprisingly, both proved to
be masters of their respective art forms:
Christian, as the designer whose “New
Look” resurrected fashion after the war,
and Rene, as the man who influenced
the graphic style of a whole generation
of fashion illustrators.
arts
THoMAS lAWRenCe:
RegenCY PoWeR AnD
BRilliAnCe
CézAnne’S CARD
PlAYeRS
JiHYe PARk
Wolfson Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin’s Place
020 7306 0055
npg.org.uk
The Courtauld Gallery
Somerset House
Strand
020 7848 252
courtauld.ac.uk
Tenderpixel Gallery
10 Cecil Court
020 7379 9464
tenderpixel.com
A lot of fine and beautiful things came
out of the Regency Period. Oscar Wilde,
Marble Arch, coffee shops and Thomas
Lawrence—the 18th century painter
currently showing at the National Portrait
Gallery. An innkeeper’s son who made his
debut entertaining the regulars with his
crayon likenesses, Lawrence’s precociously
rich and powerful strokes were destined for
an age in which excess was commonplace.
By the time of his death in 1830, Royal
Academy training, a knighthood and a list
of prizes as long as his brush had made
him one of the most sought-after portrait
painters of his age, beloved by the beautiful
people for his charming disposition and a
highly judicious tendency towards flattery.
The exhibition—the programme of which
reads like a Who’s Who guide to the 18th
century—is the largest of its kind to be
hosted in this country.
Their suspense is palpable, their absorption
absolute, but when the peasants of
Provence agreed to pose for Cézanne in
1891, they expected nothing more than five
francs for their trouble. Little did they know
their casual playing would produce the most
famous card game to ever grace a canvas.
The Courtauld’s exhibition is the first time
a comprehensive collection of these
peasant portraits has been put on show—
surprising, given the paintings’ iconic status.
The Courtauld has succeeded in compiling
three of the card player paintings, five of the
most outstanding peasant portraits and the
majority of Cézanne’s exquisite preparatory
drawings, watercolours and oil studies.
There’s always one, isn’t there? Just when
we’d all decided that most art was based
on either fantasy or reality, and that most
artists could be categorised accordingly,
up comes a convention-defying Goldsmiths
graduate to mess things up—this time, in
the form of Korean videomaker Jihye Park.
Fantastic, horrific and allegorical all at once,
Park’s kitsch films don’t just walk the line
between fantasy and reality: they kick it to
pieces. Viewing her personal life through
the prism of the historical events that might
mirror it, Parks’ films are an autobiographycum-fairy tale in which she herself plays a
starring role. Her exhibition at Tenderpixel,
promised land of ‘Smiths graduates, is her
first solo exhibiton in the UK, and promises
to explore the horrific and the paradoxical
elements of fairytales through a series of
films that serve both as reflections of life
and reactions to it.
Until 23 January
/National Portrait Gallery
Until 16th January
/The Courtauld Gallery
2nd—22nd December
/Tenderpixel Gallery
Past
PAST
/10
RAISING
THE
BARS
Caroline Roddis explores
the boozy history of Covent
Garden’s drinking culture
Tales of drunkards rampaging through
London after marathon drinking sessions
may be presented as marks of modern
society’s degeneration but have, in fact,
been told since Covent Garden began to
develop into what we know and love today.
Wild, faddish and occasionally surprising,
the area’s evolving drinking culture has
kept it on the map—and occasionally in
the gutter—for over 500 years.
Covent Garden was already well
lubricated by the time of the 1552 Alehouse
Act—the first licensing law. One of the
area’s first recorded pubs was the Swan
near Charing Cross, established in the 15th
century. This pub was favoured by poet
Ben Johnson, as its barman Ralph always
served him good ‘Canary’—a sweet wine
from the Canary Islands.
The abundance of alehouses was to
be expected given that in 1584 there
were 26 breweries in London, producing a
whopping 648,900 barrels between them.
Beer was, in fact, a much safer drink than
the untreated water available and had
experienced a surge in popularity thanks
to the hopping technique introduced from
Holland. Not only were half of London’s
brewers foreign but, as Pepys informs
us, there was also a French tavern,
Chatelaine’s, in Covent Garden.
house, in which patrons could place
private correspondence to the Guardian
newspaper. Not all coffee houses were
reputable and the most notorious was Tom
King’s marketplace shack, which opened
in 1720 and was infamous for supplying
alcohol and prostitutes to its clients.
Frequented by such luminaries as Hogarth
(in whose engraving Morning it can be seen),
Fielding and Pope, it only opened after
the taverns closed and was known “to all
gentlemen to whom beds were unknown”.
One surviving pub from this era is the
By the mid 18th century the market
Lamb & Flag on Rose Street, which has
was, according to the Tatler, “a strange
records dating back to 1623.
assemblage of shed and penthouse, rude
The pub gained notoriety as “the Bucket
stall and crazy tenement, coffee-house and
of Blood” during the 17th century due
gin shop”. It was as common to find gin on
to the bare knuckle boxing bouts held
market stands as it was to find it alongside
there. Entertainment has always been
ale and porter in taverns, and indeed the
an important accompaniment to drinking
Rose, on the corner of Russell Street and
in Covent Garden and sports like boxing,
Catherine Street, featured in the third
bowling and even shooting have all taken
painting of Hogarth’s Gin Lane series, which
place in pubs across the area. Moreover,
highlights the gin craze that peaked in the
it was not unusual for former sportsmen to
1730s, when the average Londoner drank
become publicans in later life—boxer Ben
14 gallons per year. Fortunately the 1736
Caunt, after whom Big Ben was supposedly Gin Act brought about a marked decline in
named, ran the Coach & Horses on
gin drinking throughout the 18th century,
St Martin’s Lane for a few years until 1851,
although the fact that a distillery fire on
when a fire tragically destroyed both the
Russell Street damaged houses in 1769
pub and the lives of his two children.
suggests spirits were still a problem for
By the late 17th century, Bow Street was Covent Garden.
home to several notorious establishments,
On a positive note, however, alcohol was
including the Cock, from whose balcony
often cited as a reason for actor Charles
in 1663 Sir Charles Sedley drunkenly
Macklin’s famed longevity. Reported to
defecated before preaching to the enraged
have lived to 107, the man who had acted
crowd gathered below. He was later fined
alongside Garrick drank a daily pint of warm
£500 for inciting a riot, but was by no means sugared stout at the Antelope in White Hart
the only well-heeled miscreant frequenting
Yard for over 30 years and even opened his
the area at the time.
own Piazza tavern in 1754. Here, you could
On nearby Russell Street was Will’s
have port, claret, or any other tipple for
Coffee House, the upper room of which
3 shillings and, if you arrived before 4.10pm,
became famous for its congregation of wits. could sit at the communal table and be
Poet John Dryden visited the place every
served dinner by Macklin himself, who used
day until his death in 1700, despite having
to give lectures and performances when not
been assaulted after emerging from it one
attending to his guests. Unfortunately, this
evening in 1679.
novel idea was swiftly copied and Macklin’s
Coffee houses, introduced to London
soon closed, although its owner kept
in 1652, were places where, for a fixed
drinking for a good 40 more years.
admission price, you could relax with a
Throughout the 18th century
coffee, cigar and pleasant company.
programmes of theatrical or musical
In 1713 writer Joseph Addison cemented
entertainment in pubs grew popular and
the coffee houses’ relationship with the
Covent Garden boasted many a hotspot.
newspapers by establishing the famous
The Cyder Cellars on Maiden Lane was one
‘lion’s head’ postbox at Button’s coffee
of the most celebrated of these—many of
Past
Past
Past
‘‘
Several inebriated
soldiers attempted
to parachute down
from the balcony of
Romano’s with the
aid of umbrellas.
of the lower classes and concerts were
usually held in first floor rooms that were
enlarged by the addition of adjacent
bedrooms. One example of this was the
King’s Arms on Drury Lane, where upstairs
performances were often disturbed by the
noise of skittles games below.
In the beginning, the conductor would
also have been the waiter, who received
commission for every pot of beer or glass
of spirit sold. Drinkers paid around a penny
admission to hear a variety of comic and
sentimental songs, which were first taken
from popular operas but later composed to
meet demand.
In the mid 19th century, gin consumption
the most famous literary, theatrical and
once again rose, despite a thriving
political figures of the age could be seen
temperance movement. Gin palaces such
soaking there until morning, where “the
as the Mogul on Drury Lane were blamed
song was sung and the wine was quaffed”.
for adding to the misery of an impoverished
Places such as these used professional
area. Although the licensing laws were
singers, unaccompanied by music, and
eventually reformed in 1864, and 24 hour
frequently appear in the writings of patrons
drinking ceased, it was only achieved after
such as Thackeray.
fierce debate as to the utility of all-night
A habitué of the area, Thackeray also
establishments such as the Finish, which
enjoyed the Coal Hole, a riotous place which “finished” hardened revellers (especially
contemporaries argued was best seen at
actors, lawyers and MPs) at the same time
midnight, “then it is in its glory; the boxes
as it furnished market gardeners with a beer
stuffed to repletion—the room enveloped
to start the day.
in a cloud of smoke, and thrilling with melody
Although Covent Garden offered ample
sweetly put in tune”. Although these places opportunity for heavy drinking, much of it
lost popularity in the second half of the 19th was done in conjunction with a good meal,
century, Evans Music-and-Supper Rooms
with places such as the Crown & Anchor
on King Street lasted the longest. Recreated (on the corner of Strand and Arundel Street)
as the “Cave of Harmony” in Thackeray’s
hosting up to 2,000 people for important
works, this venue originally offered music of banquets. In fact, the quality of the fare
a very ribald kind but later featured choirs as available often prompted the founding of
it moved towards respectability. Its smoky
dining clubs, at which eminent men would
basement—with screens to conceal ladies meet to discuss affairs over their favourite
who wished to watch—could accommodate food and drink. One of the most famous
around 1,200 respectable gentlemen and
was the Sublime Society of Beefsteaks,
was famed for its good, if expensive, fare.
established in 1735 at the Theatre Royal by
The best way to get a drink was to grab one
its manager, John Rich. Notable members
from a waiter as he flew past—apparently
included Garrick, Johnson, Hogarth and
it was quite the
even the Prince of Wales. The private Garrick
art to capture one successfully.
Club, founded in 1831 on King Street, was
Even as the popularity of these places
also vastly popular and well respected.
waned, however, they were still “too late
The Garrick’s Head on Bow Street
and too aristocratic for the mechanic”, as
boasted the infamous Judge and Jury club,
Dickens’s All The Year Round put it, and
which staged a facetious, bawdy mock trial
tavern-based concerts for the working
that anyone could attend provided they paid
classes (to which they could bring their
admission. A case—inevitably a salacious
wives) were established from the 1830s.
one—would be put before ‘judge’ Baron
By now, taverns had become the preserve
Nicholson and decided by much over-acting,
obscenity and alcohol consumption.
As women were not allowed in until
afterwards (around midnight) the roles of
female ‘witnesses’ were played by men in
drag. Women were, however, allowed into
the riotous masked balls in Covent Garden
and were frequently blamed for ruining
young men by drinking “champagne as if
it were ginger-beer”.
By 1900 other types of drinking
establishment arose which siphoned
off more respectable customers. Wine
bars, such as the now defunct Short’s on
the Strand and nearby Gordon’s became
popular, as did hotel bars. The most famous
of these was the Savoy, whose American
bar opened in 1898 and brought cocktails
to Covent Garden.
The public house underwent great
changes in 1914 when the Defence of
the Realm Act restricted opening hours
to 12pm-2.30pm and 6.30pm-9.30pm.
Alcohol was also banned from music hall
auditoria, contributing to their decline in
popularity. Restaurants, meanwhile,
were unaffected, leading to trouble when
several inebriated soldiers—historically,
a common feature in the area—attempted
to parachute down from the balcony of
Strand restaurant Romano’s with the aid
of umbrellas.
After the war, drinking became a
charitable affair as in 1924 the Ancient
Order of Frothblowers was founded with the
aim of fundraising through drinking games.
One of their earliest ‘vats’ (designated
drinking spots) was Simpsons-on-theStrand, under whose roof members would
have sung, drunk and received fines for
misdemeanours such as not wearing
AOFB cufflinks.
WWII again brought restrictions to the
area’s drinking venues and it wasn’t until
the 1960s that licensing was liberalised
and different types of establishments
began to blossom.
Nowadays, there are endless
possibilities for drinking in Covent Garden,
from chic wine bars to quirky pop-ups (not
to mention more non-alcoholic options
than ever before), yet there will always also
be a place for the traditional pub because,
as Johnson put it “so much happiness is
produced by a good tavern”.
directory/10
Fashion
Accessorize
The Market at Covent Garden
22 The Piazza
020 7240 2107
monsoon.co.uk
agnès b
35-36 Floral Street
020 7379 1992
agnesb.com
Womenswear & menswear
All Saints
020 7179 3749
57 Long Acre
020 7836 0801
allsaints.co.uk
Aubin & Wills
12 Floral Street
020 7240 4024
aubinandwills.com
Banana Republic
132 Long Acre
020 7836 9567
bananarepublic.gap.eu
Base
55 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials
020 7240 8914
base-fashions.co.uk
Womenswear
Betsey Johnson
4-5 Carriage Hall, 29 Floral street
020 7240 6164
betseyjohnson.com
Womenswear
Birkenstock
020 7240 2783
birkenstock.co.uk
Shoes
Calvin Klein
120 Long Acre
020 7240 7582
calvinklein.com
Carhartt
15-17 Earlham Street, Seven Dials
020 7836 1551
carhartt.com
Cos
130-131 Long Acre
020 7632 4190
cosstores.com
Crocs
020 7836 2505
crocs.eu
Shoes
Desa
6 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard
desa.uk.com
Leather
Diesel
43 Earlham Street
020 7497 5543
diesel.com
Dune
26 James Street
020 7836 1560
dune.co.uk
East
16 The Piazza
020 7836 6685
east.co.uk
Womenswear
Energie & Killah
47-49 Neal Street, Seven Dials
020 7836 7719
energie.it
Menswear
Fat Face Clothing
Thomas Neal’s Centre,
020 7497 6464
fatface.com
Fenchurch
020 7240 1880
fenchurch.com
Fifi Wilson
020 7240 2121
fifiwilson.com
Womenswear
Firetrap
020 7395 1830
firetrap.net
Formes
28 Henrietta Street
020 7240 4777
formes.com
Pregnant womenswear
Fred Perry
14 The Piazza
020 7836 3327
6-8 Thomas Neal’s Centre
020 7836 4513
fredperry.com
Freddy
30-32 Neal Street, Seven Dials
020 7836 5291
freddy.it
Full Circle
14 Floral Street
020 7240 8310
fullcircleuk.com
Gary Holder
22 Thomas Neal’s Centre, Seven Dials
020 7836 7889
garyholder.com
Jewellery
G-Star
5-11 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials
020 7240 3707
g-star.com
Hoss Intropia
124 Long Acre
020 7240 4900
hossintropia.com
Womenswear
Hugo Boss
47 Long Acre
020 7240 1020
hugoboss.com
Menswear
imso
020 7836 8585
imso.co.uk
Womenswear
Jack Wills
136 Long Acre,
020 7240 8946
jackwills.com
Jaeger London
jaeger.co.uk
Womenswear
Joules
joules.com
Kabiri
18 The Market, Lower Courtyard
020 7794 0754
kabiri.co.uk
Jewellery
Karen Millen
22-23 James Street
020 7836 5355
karenmillen.com
Womenswear
Kurt Geiger
1 James Street
kurtgeiger.com
Laird London
23 New Row
lairdlondon.co.uk
Hats
Laura Lee
020 7379 9050
lauraleejewellery.com
Jewellery
L K Bennett
138 Long Acre,
020 7379 9890
43 King Street
020 7379 8980
lkbennett.com
Lyle & Scott
40 King Street
020 7379 7190
lyleandscott.com
Massimo Dutti
125-126 Long Acre, St Martin’s Courtyard
020 7935 0250
massimodutti.com
Womenswear & Menswear
Mimco
020 7836 9826
mimco.com.au
Accessories
Mint
20 Earlham Street
020 7836 3440
Vintage clothing
Monsoon
23 The Piazza
020 7836 9140
monsoon.co.uk
Nicole Farhi
11 Floral Street
020 7497 8713
nicolefarhi.com
Nine West
1 James Street
020 7836 8485
ninewest.co.uk
Shoes
Orla Kiely
020 7240 4022
orlakiely.com
Womenswear
Original Penguin
8 North Piazza
orginalpenguin.co.uk
Menswear and womenswear
Paul Smith
40-44 Floral Street
020 7836 7828
9-11 Langley Court
020 7240 5420
paulsmith.co.uk
Pop Boutique
020 7497 5262
pop-boutique.com
Vintage womenswear & menswear
Poste Mistress
61-63 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials
020 7379 4040
postemistress.co.uk
Shoes
RBK
020 7240 8689
rbk.com
Sportswear
Replay
32 Long Acre
020 7379 8650
replay.it
Santos & Mowen
020 7836 4365
santosandmowen.com
Menswear
Size?
37a Neal Street, Seven Dials
020 7379 7853
Shoes
Skechers
2-3 James Street
uk.skechers.com
Shoes
Sole
020 7836 6777
sole.co.uk
Shoes
Stone Island
34 Shelton Street, Seven Dials
020 7836 8402
stoneisland.co.uk
Menswear
Super Superficial
020 7287 7447
supersuperficial.com
directory
directory/10
health
& Beauty
Superdry
24-25 & 28 Thomas Neal’s Centre,
Seven Dials
020 7240 9437
superdry.co.uk
Tatty Devine
tattydevine.com
Jewellery
Adee Phelan
29 Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials
020 7240 3777
adeephelan.com
Hair & beauty salon
Ahava
020 7240 8815
ahava.co.uk
Skincare
Ted Baker
1-4 Langley Court
020 7497 8862
tedbaker.com
Twenty8Twelve
10 St Martin’s Courtyard
twenty8twelve.com
Tzar
15 King Street
020 7240 0969
Womenswear
UGG Australia
Long Acre
uggaustralia.com
Accessories
UNCONDITIONAL +
020 7836 6931
unconditional.uk.com
Urban Outfitters
020 7759 6390
urbanoutfitters.com
Volcom
020 7836 3353
volcomeurope.com
Surf and skate fashion
WeSC
020 7836 4473
wesc.com
Skate fashion
Whistles
20 The Market
020 7379 7401
whistles.co.uk
Womenswear
Benefit
020 7379 0316
benefitcosmetics.com
Cosmetics
B Never to Busy to be Beautiful
020 7836 0797
bnevertobusytobebeautiful.co.uk
The Body Control Pilates Centre
35 Little Russell Street
020 7636 8900
bodycontrol.co.uk
Covent Garden Dental Practice
61g Oldham Walk
020 7836 9161
cgdp.com
Covent Garden Dental Spa
020 7836 9107
coventgardendentalspa.co.uk
Covent Garden Physio
Ground Floor, 23-24 Henrietta Street
020 7497 8974
coventgardenphysio.com
Physiotherapists
The Covent Garden Salon
69 Endell Street, Seven Dials
020 7836 8362
thecoventgardensalon.com
Hair & beauty salon
Crabtree & Evelyn
3 The Piazza
020 7836 3110
crabtree-evelyn.co.uk
Erno Laszlo
13 The Market Building
020 3040 3035
ernolaszlo.com
Skincare
Good Vibes
14-16 Betterton Street
020 7240 6111
goodvibesfitness.co.uk
Power Plate fitness studio
Hair By Fairy
8-10 Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials
020 7497 0776
hairbyfairy.com
Hair & beauty salon
Karine Jackson
24 Litchfield Street, Seven Dials
020 7836 0300
karinejackson.co.uk
Hair & beauty salon
Kiehl’s
020 7240 2411
kiehls.com
Skincare
L’Artisan Parfumeur
020 3040 3030
artisanparfumeur.com
Perfume
L’Occitane
6 The Piazza
020 7379 6040
Lush
11 The Piazza
020 7240 4570
lush.co.uk
Mac
020 7379 6820
maccosmetics.com
Cosmetics
Melvita
uk.melvita.com
Skincare
Miller Harris
020 7836 9378
millerharris.com
Molton Brown Emporium
18 Russell Street
020 7240 8383
moltonbrown.co.uk
Skincare & cosmetics
Neal’s Yard Remedies
15 Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials
020 7739 7222
nealsyardremedies.com
Natural remedies & skincare
Nickel
020 7240 4048
nickelspalondon.co.uk
Men only spa
relax
7 Mercer Street, St Martin’s Courtyard
Massage
Saco
020 7240 7897
sacohair.com
Hair salon
The Sanctuary
12 Floral Street
0870 770 3350
thesanctuary.co.uk
Women only spa
Sanrizz
4 Upper St Martin’s Lane
020 7379 8022
sanrizz.co.uk
Sassoon
45a Monmouth Street, Seven Dials
020 7240 6635
sassoon.com
Hair salon
Screen Face
020 7836 3955
screenface.com
Cosmetics
Shu Uemura
020 7240 7635
shu-uemura.co.jp
Space NK
020 7379 6384
spacenk.co.uk
Stuart Phillips
020 7379 5304
stuartphillips.co.uk
Hair salon
Toni & Guy
4 Henrietta Street
020 7240 7342
toniandguy.com
Trevor Sorbie
27 Floral Street
0844 445 6901
trevorsorbie.com
Hair salon
Walk in Back Rub
Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials
020 7836 9111
walkinbackrub.co.uk
Massage
directory
directory/10
retail
Apple
1-7 The Piazza
020 7447 1400
apple.com
Technology
Aram Designs
3 Kean Street
020 7240 3933
aram.co.uk
Furniture
Artbox
14 Thomas Neal’s Centre, Seven Dials
020 7240 0097
artbox.co.uk
Fun accessories
Berghaus
020 7379 9313
berghaus.com
Outdoor clothing and accessories
Cath Kidston
28-32 Shelton Street, Seven Dials
020 7836 4803
cathkidston.co.uk
Homewares
Coco de Mer
020 7836 8882
coco-de-mer.com
Womens erotic boutique
Covent Garden Academy of Flowers
020 7240 6359
Flower design courses
The Dover Bookshop
020 7836 2111
doverbooks.co.uk
Design books
Ellis Brigham
3-11 Southampton Street
020 7395 1010
ellis-brigham.com
Mountain sports
Field & Trek
64 Long Acre
020 7379 8167
42 Maiden Lane
020 7379 3793
fieldandtrek.com
Outdoor pursuits
Kathmandu
26 Henrietta Street
020 7379 4748
kathmandu.co.uk
Outdoor pursuits
Kidrobot
020 7836 4074
kidrobot.com
Designer toys
Kirk Originals
29 Floral Street
020 7240 5055
kirkoriginals.com
Eyewear
London Marathon Shop
63 Long Acre
020 7240 1244
londonmarathonstore.com
Running equipment
directory/10
Food retailers
& caFes
The North Face
30-32 Southampton Street
020 7240 9577
thenorthface.com
Outdoor pursuits
Opus
10-13 King Street
020 7240 6590
krakenopus.com
Books
SJ Dent
34 Great Queen Street
020 7242 6018
sjdent.com
Sporting memorabilia
Slam City Skates
16 Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials
020 7240 0928
slamcity.com
Skateboarding equipment
Spex in the City
020 7240 0243
spexinthecity.com
Eyewear
Stanfords
12-14 Long Acre
020 7836 1321
stanfords.co.uk
Maps
Time2
128 Long Acre
020 7292 1247
time2.co.uk
Watches
The Tintin Shop
34 Floral Street
020 7836 1131
thetintinshop.uk.com
Tintin memorabilia
Treadwell’s Bookshop
34 Tavistock Street, Opera Quarter
020 7240 8906
treadwells-london.com
Herbals
The White Company
thewhitecompany.com
Homewares
Battersea Pie Station
020 7240 9566
batterseapiestation.co.uk
Pies
Ben’s Cookies
13a The Piazza
020 7240 6123
benscookies.com
Bill’s Produce Store
billsproducestore.co.uk
Cafe, deli & grocer
Candy Cakes
30 The Market, Lower Courtyard
020 7497 8979
candycakes.eu
Bakery
Double Shot Coffee Company
020 7240 9742
doubleshotcoffee.co.uk
Ella’s Bakehouse
20a The Piazza
ellasbakehouse.com
Euphorium Bakery
Thomas Neal’s Centre, Seven Dials,
020 7379 3608
euphoriumbakery.com
Bakery
Frances Hilary
020 7836 3135
franceshilary.com
Gardening
Hope and Greenwood
1 Russell Street, Opera Quarter
020 7240 3314
hopeandgreenwood.co.uk
Sweets
Kastner & Ovens
15 Bedford Street
020 7379 6428
Bakers
Monmouth Coffee
020 7379 3516
monmouthcoffee.co.uk
Coffee
Mr Simm’s Olde Sweet Shop
25 New Row
020 7240 2341
Sweets
Neal’s Yard Dairy
020 7240 5700
nealsyarddairy.co.uk
Cheese
New York Deli
24 The Piazza
020 7379 3253
Patisserie Valerie
15 Bedford Street
020 7379 6428
patisserie-valerie.co.uk
Patisserie
Primrose Bakery
primrosebakery.org.uk
Cakes
Scoop
020 7240 7086
Italian gelato
The Tea House
020 7240 7539
Tea
Tea Palace
12 Covent Garden Market
020 7836 6997
teapalace.co.uk
Tea
Whittard
38 The Piazza
whittard.co.uk
020 7836 7681
Yu-foria Frozen Yoghurt Co
19a Covent Garden Market
020 7240 5532
yu-foria.com
Frozen yoghurt
CHARLIE JAMES
LOCATION
SOUTHAMPTON STREET
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVE
IN COVENT GARDEN
directory
directory/10
restaurants
Axis at One Aldwych
1 Aldwych
020 7300 0300
onealdwych.com
Modern British
Belgo Centraal
020 7813 2233
belgo-restaurants.co.uk
Belgian
Boulevard Brasserie
38-40 Wellington Street
020 7240 2992
boulevardbrasserie.co.uk
Modern European
Café des Amis Bar & Restaurant
11-14 Hanover Place, Long Acre
020 7379 3444
cafedesamis.co.uk
French
Canela
33 Earlham Street
020 7240 6926
canelacafe.com
Portugese/Brazilian
Cantina Laredo
10 Upper St Martin’s Lane,
020 7240 0630
cantinalaredo.co.uk
Mexican
Carluccio’s
Garrick Street
020 7836 0990
carluccios.com
Italian
Chez Gerard
45 The Market
020 7379 0666
chezgerard.com
French
Christophers American Bar & Grill
18 Wellington Street, Opera Quarter
020 7240 4222
christophersgrill.com
Modern American
Clos Maggiore
33 King Street
020 7379 9696
Quality food
French
Côte
17-21 Tavistock Street,
Opera Quarter
020 7379 9991
cote-restaurants.co.uk
French bistro
Dishoom
12 Upper St Martin’s Lane,
020 7420 9320
dishoom.com
Bombay cafe
Crème de la Crepe
South Hall, The Piazza
020 7836 6896
cremedelacrepe.co.uk
Crepes
Le Deuxieme
65a Long Acre
020 7379 0033
ledeuxieme.com
Modern European
directory/10
culture
The Forge
14 Garrick Street
020 7379 1432
theforgerestaurant.com
Modern European
Great Queen Street
020 7242 0622
British
The Ivy
1-5 West Street
020 7836 4751
the-ivy.co.uk
Modern European
J Sheekey
28-32 St Martin’s Court
020 7240 2565
j-sheekey.co.uk
Fish and seafood
Jamie’s Italian
10-12 Upper St Martin’s Lane
020 3326 6390
jamieoliver.com
Kitchen Italia
020 7632 9500
kitchen-italia.com
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon
13-15 West Street
020 7010 8600
joel-robuchon.com
French
Livebait
020 7836 7161
livebaitrestaurants.co.uk
Fish and seafood
Loch Fyne Restaurant & Oyster Bar
2-4 Catherine Street, Opera Quarter
020 7240 4999
lochfyne.com
Fish and seafood
Masala Zone
48 Floral Street
020 7379 0101
masalazone.com
Indian
Mon Plaisir
020 7836 7243
monplaisir.co.uk
French
Mongolian Barbeque
12 Maiden Lane
020 7379 7722
themongolianbarbeque.co.uk
Mongolian
Pasta Brown
35-36 Bow Street
020 7379 5775
pastabrown.com
Italian
PJ’s
020 7240 7529
pjscoventgarden.co.uk
Bar and grill
Porters English Restaurant
17 Henrietta Street
020 7836 6466
porters.uk.com
British
Restorante Aurora
3 Catherine Street, Opera Quarter
020 7836 7585
Italian
Rossopomodoro
50-52 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials
020 7240 9095
rossopomodoro.co.uk
Italian
Rules
35 Maiden Lane
020 7836 5314
rules.co.uk
British
Sagar
31 Catherine Street, Opera Quarter
020 7836 6377
gosagar.com
Sarastro
126 Drury Lane
020 7836 0101
sarastro-restaurant.com
Turkish/Mediterranean
Simurgh
17 Garrick Street
020 7240 7811
simurgh.co.uk
Persian
Sitaaray
167 Drury Lane
020 7269 6422
sitaaray.com
Indian
Sofra
020 7240 3773
sofra.co.uk
Turkish
Sophie’s Steakhouse
020 7836 8836
sophiessteakhouse.co.uk
Steak
Souk Medina
1a Shorts Gardens, Seven Dials
020 7240 1796
soukrestaurant.net
North African
Strada
13-15 Tavistock Street, Opera Quarter
020 3077 1127
strada.co.uk
Pizza
Wahaca
66 Chandos Place
020 7240 1883
wahaca.com
Mexican
Wolfe’s Bar & Grill
020 7831 4442
Modern European
World Food Café
1st Floor 14 Neal Street
020 7379 0298
World Food
Arts Theatre
6/7 Great Newport Street
020 7836 2132
artsheatrelondon.com
Theatre
The Courtauld Gallery
Somerset House
Strand
020 7848 2526
courtauld.ac.uk
Gallery
Donmar Warehouse
41 Earlham Street
0870 060 6624
ddonmarwarehouse.com
Theatre
The Funny Side
0870 446 0616
thefunnyside.info
Stand up comedy
Grosvenor Prints
020 7836 1979
grosvenorprints.com
Antique prints
London Coliseum
St Martin’s Lane
020 7632 8300
eno.org
Opera
London Transport Museum
Covent Garden Piazza
020 7565 7298
ltmuseum.co.uk
Noel Coward
St Martin’s Lane
0844 482 5141
delfontmackintosh.co.uk
Theatre
Novello Theatre
Aldwych
0870 950 0940
novellotheatre.com
Theatre
The Poetry Cafe
22 Betterton Sreet
020 7420 9887
poetrysoc.com
Poetry
Royal Opera House
Bow Street
0207 240 1200
royalopera.org
Opera
Somerset House
Strand
020 7845 4600
somersethouse.org.uk
Tenderpixel Gallery
10 Cecil Court
020 73799464
tenderpixel.com
Visual arts
Vaudeville Theatre
404 Strand
Theatre
directory
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our international
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U.A.E
Drury Lane WC2B
£900 per week
Neal Street WC2H
£795 per week
Endell Street WC2H
£750 per week
Judd Street WC1H
£575 per week
A unique newly built penthouse apartment found within this
school conversion located within the heart of Covent Garden.
Comprising open plan reception/kitchen, master bedroom
with en-suite & walk-in wardrobe, further double bedroom,
bathroom, roof terrace & balcony.
A large split level apartment found within this period
building located within Covent Garden a short walk for
High Holborn & Covent Garden underground stations.
Comprising reception, separate kitchen, 3 double bedrooms
& 2 bathrooms.
Lettings 020 8747 3133
A newly refurbished 2nd floor (with lift) apartment found
within the heart of Covent Garden. Comprising reception,
dining room, separate fully fitted kitchen, 2 double bedrooms
& 2 bathrooms.
A 2nd floor newly refurbished 1 bedroom apartment within
this converted building ideally located for St Pancras & King
Cross Stations. Comprising open plan reception/fully fitted
kitchen, double bedroom & bathroom. Available on a short
term basis.
[email protected]
chestertonhumberts.com
Kean Street WC2B
£2,250,000 leasehold
Bloomsbury Square WC1A
£1,295,000 share of freehold
Centre Point House WC2H
£650,000 leasehold
Kingsway Mansions WC1R
£339,950 share of freehold
A truly stunning apartment positioned within this
contemporary development offering 2 bedrooms, luxurious
bathroom suites, open plan reception space with direct access
to a secluded terrace, secure parking.
A spacious duplex penthouse apartment arranged over the
7th & 8th floors of this enviably located central development.
Benefitting from superb panoramic views, 2 bedrooms, large
living & dining room, separate kitchen, balcony.
Sales 020 8747 3133
An elegant & beautifully appointed 2 bedroom ground floor
apartment, forming part of a much sought after Grade II listed
building overlooking Bloomsbury Square. Close to British
Museum & Covent Garden’s various theatres.
A stylish 1 bedroom apartment positioned within this
handsome period block. Refurbished by the current owner,
perfect central London home with ease of access to Holborn,
West End & City.
[email protected]
chestertonhumberts.com
t h e
C o v e n t G a r d e n
AC A DEM Y
o f F l o w e r s
The Covent Garden
Academy of Flowers
Offering a range of
hot courses for all
levels from one day
to 30 weeks
9 Slingsby Place
Covent Garden
WC2E 9AB
gillian.wheeler@
020 7240 6359

Covent - St Martin`s Courtyard

Transcription

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