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9 Feb

Walthamstow Market and Eat 17

Posted by Lettice in Shopping No Comments

Looking for somewhere new to shop? London’s Walthamstow Market is the longest street market in England and sells everything you could possibly want at bargain prices.

The market is great for groceries, homeware and fashion. You can kit out your kitchen, bulk buy bananas and hoard some new handbags at discount prices. The market also has a few high street favourites including New Look, Peacocks and Dorothy Perkins.

There are hundreds of stalls so you’ll need to rummage to find amazing stuff, but it’s worth it. I spent all day Saturday bargain hunting and didn’t even get to the end of the road!

My favourite thing about Walthamstow Market is the haberdashery. There are lots of stalls selling sewing threads, buttons, ribbons and amazing carnival sequin trims. If you look hard enough, you’ll even find Kylie and Bros patches for your jeans.

There are plenty of cheap and cheerful places to eat in the market but we followed a tip from a friend and took a 10-minute walk to find Orford Road, a hidden street of lovely restaurants.

We picked Eat17 as most of the locals were eating there, looking happy and well fed. The hamburgers were delicious but we had food envy over every dish coming out of the kitchen. I didn’t have room for pudding, but will be going back to try them all, especially the one which appeared to be served in a flowerpot.

What’s your favourite London Market?

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8 Feb

Hiroshi Suzuki: Silver Waves at Goldsmiths’ Hall

Posted by Lettice in Arts No Comments

There’s a very grand exhibition space in the entrance to Goldsmiths’ Hall in London and their latest show opened today – Hiroshi Suzuki’s Silver Waves.

Japanese silversmith Suzuki takes large silver sheets and beats them into beautiful, sculptural shapes with a hammer. The huge silver vases and bowls gleam in the cabinets. Inspired by nature, the pieces feature repeats of patterns found in the natural world; ripples, waves and curves. Suzuki creates from inspiration and intuition, rather than pre-planning.

Many of the pieces are now in private collections and have been loaned for the exhibition so it’s a unique opportunity to see so many pieces together. They chart Suzuki’s career from the Royal College of Art in 1994 to today. There is also new work which has been created for this exhibition.

Suzuki talked me through some of his earlier pieces, explaining how the shapes evolved as he tested different techniques and saw how far he could push them. His father and grandfather were craftsmen and made traditional baskets which were a similar shape, but his are a more modern version!

Some of my favourite pieces were the bowls with different patterns on the inside and outside. These were created as two separate bowls, one decorated on the outside, one on the inside and joined together at the rim.

The Goldsmiths’ Company are officially responsible for testing the quality of silver and gold, so they know something good when they see it. Hiroshi’s work is so highly regarded that the two talks arranged for this exhibition have already booked up.

The exhibition runs to 6 March and is free, so there’s no excuse not to pop in! www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk

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8 Feb

Visit London Asks: How Will You Celebrate Valentine’s Day in London?

Posted by Hannah in Special Events 1 Comment

Loved up in London? There are loads of ways to romance your partner in London this Valentine’s Day.

  • Snuggle up by the fire with a Valentine’s afternoon tea at The Montague
  • Get a Flirty £30 ticket for London Zoo, and follow the Love Trail to see happy animal couples, from tigers to penguins
  • Enjoy a free, outdoor screening of Billy Wilder’s classic film The Apartment outside the National Theatre
  • Book a fairytale Valentine’s break – complete with horse-drawn carriage – at Swisshotel The Howard
  • Get an underwater diver to pop the question for you at the London Aquarium

Single? Don’t fancy the usual Valentine’s fare? Don’t worry, there are plenty of London events for you!

How will you celebrate Valentine’s Day this year? Let us know in the comments below.

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6 Feb

Photo of the Week: Spitalfields

Posted by Lettice in London 1 Comment

This week’s photo by The_Guvnah shows a historic building façade in Spitalfields which has been preserved when a new building was erected. It’s a slightly bizarre solution to modern life in historic buildings.

Seen anything fascinating in London recently? Add your photos to the Visit London Flickr pool.

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5 Feb

Deptford’s Thriving Art Scene

Posted by Jenny in Arts 1 Comment


Where can you find the trendiest, most cutting edge art in London?

Don’t automatically answer the East End; South London has been making waves in the art world lately. Where else can you have a coffee in a stationary train carriage decorated by local artists, or watch art being thrown into a giant bin?

Bea de Souza was one of the first to spot the trend and relocate her experimental art gallery, theAGENCY gallery, from Shoreditch to Deptford. Her reasons for moving included the community feel in Deptford, and the mix of artists and locals. Set in a row of terraced houses, the gallery easily blends in. The only clue that it might be different from the other homes is that the exterior is painted black.

South London’s art scene has benefitted from the recession, as would-be developers have pulled out and artists have negotiated low rents in the empty spaces. One example is The Old Police Station in New Cross. The police moved next door, and the old station has been converted into studios, a gallery, and a popular café. The old cells are used for special installations.

Even though the area may only now be receiving recognition as a creative hotspot, the scene has been developing for a while. Goldsmiths University has been located in New Cross for years, and as well as fuelling the creative energy of the area, many students choose to live locally after they graduate.

If you fancy exploring the South’s art scene take a look at the Deptford Art Map which details galleries and art spaces in Deptford. Highlights include:

  • BEARSPACE - exhibits new young artists (and will soon be opening a shop)
  • ARCH Gallery – housed in railway arches, a gallery and shop selling art materials
  • APT Gallery – large gallery and working studios near Deptford Creek
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5 Feb

Video of the Week: The Medieval & Renaissance Galleries at the V&A

Posted by Zoe J. Griffiths in Arts, Attractions No Comments

The Medieval & Renaissance Galleries from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.

Have you been to the new Medieval & Renaissance Galleries at the V&A yet? They’re stunning.

You can see one of the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries, an ivory book cover from the Court of Charlemagne (around 800AD),  enamel caskets dedicated to St Thomas Becket, and Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. And that’s just for starters!

For a taster, why not take a look at this fantastic video of the new exhibition space…

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4 Feb

Thursday Theatre News: Royal Court Theatre Special

Posted by Zoe J. Griffiths in Theatre No Comments

There’s so much exciting stuff going on at the award-winning Royal Court at the moment, I felt it was time to dedicate a whole post to their work…

You can see theatre in some pretty amazing places in London. The National Theatre’s brutalist exterior is breathtaking; under the arches at Shunt you can be transported into another world; I might’ve mentioned how much I enjoy The Globe somewhere before; summer drama in the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park is makes for a fantastically romantic evening…

But more often than not, if you see theatre in London, you’re likely to be in a fairly traditional auditorium.

The Royal Court is hoping to change all that. This week, they’ve announced they’re taking over a shop in the Elephant & Castle shopping centre in South East London.

It’s certainly a long way (in more than distance terms!) from their usual swanky Sloane Square residence.

The project, called Theatre Local sees Royal Court plays transfer to Units 215/216 at the Elephant & Castle shopping centre. The space seats 80, tickets cost £8: the idea is to build a new audience, one that would probably never buy a ticket for the Royal Court in Sloane Square.

The “season” opens with a three-week run of random by debbie tucker green (she doesn’t like capital letters). And this show will be followed by three Jerwood Theatre Upstairs shows from the Royal Court’s current season – Disconnect, The Empire, and Spur of The Moment – each of which will transfer for a short run.  

Dominic Cooke, artistic director of the Royal Court, says,

“Theatre Local takes Royal Court plays to the heart of a community that may not otherwise get the chance to see our work. It forms an integral part of our ambition to create unpredictable relationships between new plays and audiences.

“We felt Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre was the perfect base for us to start this venture.  It sits at the centre of one of the most vibrant and diverse communities in Europe and we are looking forward to forging links with local people and welcoming new audiences to see our shows.

“Experiencing these four very different plays in the bustling environment of a shopping centre should be a thrilling and invigorating experience for everyone involved.

“We hope it will contribute to creating a new generation of audiences for the Court, both at our home in Sloane Square and beyond.”

There’s more exciting stuff coming to the Royal Court in the coming weeks too.  With two blockbusters (Enron and Jerusalem) currently playing in the West End, and the above project kicking off, you’d think they’d be pausing for breath. Not so. Both Off The Endz (starring the lovely Ashley Walters) and Posh (which sounds terrifying) are currently booking on site, and both sound fantastic. I hope it’s going to be another great year for the theatre.

Check out the Off The Endz trailer here:

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4 Feb

Kinetica Art Fair: Robots, Holograms and Floating Teabags

Posted by Hannah in Arts No Comments

From floating teabags to sparkling sculptures, the weird and wonderful world of kinetic art arrived in London today with the opening of the Kinetica Art Fair.

The only fair dedicated to moving, robotic, sound, light and time-based art in the UK, Kinetica is a fascinating place to visit. I had a look around some of the amazing exhibits.

Near the entrance was the Hungarian Cultural Centre stand, with an elegant moving sculpture by István Haraszy, a 75-year-old former locksmith turned artist. Apparently, generations of Hungarian artists have been fascinated by the possibility of fusing art and technology.

Next I bumped into Alex Eisenberg of body›data›space, who enthused about the collective’s research into robots and avatars. They’re currently exploring how young people will work and play with virtual life in 10 to 15 years time.

(There’s a panel discussion on 6 February at 11am if you want to find out more.)

At a nearby stand was a group of students from Thames Valley University, with their light and water projection inspired by the 2012 Olympics. Five coloured circles of light pulsated to the sound of a heart beat. Student Sally Potterfield told me the work “represents everything that goes into the Olympic performance”.

Passing Kathy Taylor’s teabag suspended in mid-air, circling around a silver teapot, I stepped into a room containing two amazing light sculptures: Ocean of Light by Squidsoup and Homos Luminosos by Roseline De Thélin. The glittering lights and holographic figures made me feel as though I’d stepped into another world.

Finally, I met Robin McGinley from Interactive Agents, who was encouraging visitors to play with his Hydro-Acoustic Big Bang Filter, an instrument made from glowing, liquid-filled tubes. Activated by people’s hands, the liquid in the tubes moved up and down and the machine emitted a strange sound.

McGinley explained that it was the noise of the big bang moulded into a sound stream. “You’re playing the sound of the big bang. That’s not bad, is it, for a Thursday?”

Kinetica Art Fair is at Ambika P3 until 7 February 2010.

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3 Feb

Pearly Kings and Queens Add Some Traditional London Magic To Heathrow

Posted by Zoe J. Griffiths in London 1 Comment

Did you arrive at Heathrow’s Terminal 1 on Sunday?

Then chances are, you were given a proper London welcome by a group of Pearly Kings and Queens, for a traditional cockney knees-up!

The Pearlies greeted passengers with the spoons and a good ol’ rabbit.

We’re told even the terminal announcements (normally broadcast in the best Queen’s English) were read in traditional rhyming slang:

  • Take care on the apples and pears
  • Saucepan lids are not permitted to ride on the baggage trolleys

Mike Brown, Chief Operating Officer at Heathrow, said, “We’re trying to bring some of London’s unique characteristics to Heathrow, to entertain passengers but also to show off some of the city’s history and its culture.”

William McCarthy arriving from Auckland said, “I have never seen anything quite like this; what a welcome to the UK!”

Pearly Queen of Islington, Phyllis Broadbent said, “We’ve never been to Heathrow before, it’s rather exciting! The Pearlies are a London tradition and this is London’s airport; now people arriving from all over the world have seen us!”

Did you see them? Let us know what you think of the Pearly party!

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2 Feb

Cat Deely Helps Launch Flowe(red) in Covent Garden

Posted by Zoe J. Griffiths in Shopping No Comments

As Valentine’s Day comes around again, the issue of giving ethical, eco-friendly flowers to your friends and loved ones rears its complicated head.

Yes, getting a bouquet is a lovely part of Valentine’s Day. But all too often, there’s a worry that those very flowers have done more harm than good before arriving to adorn your living room.

Today, Cat Deely was in London’s original flower market, Covent Garden, looking like a modern-day Eliza Doolittle, helping launch FLOWE(RED), a new online flower service from (RED). Ethically sourced flowers? You bet. And all the profits from the sale of the bouquets (which cost between £20 and £65) go towards saving lives in Africa.

As Cat says, “FLOWE(RED) is a truly inspiring new service from (RED).  I can now purchase stunning flowers for someone I care about, or as a treat for myself, in the knowledge that the profits reach those who need it the most.  It costs as little as 20p a day to buy the vital medication needed to keep someone who is HIV positive in Africa alive. Thanks to (RED), just one bouquet of flowers can now make a real difference and help save lives.”

Order online at www.flowered.com. Give a good gift this Valentine’s Day.

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