Weekend roundup for 15 May
Includes oversized footballers, life-size Monopoly and a 12 foot high refugee
đ The BBC has spent a day with the Metâs 'violence suppression unit' in Hackney. VSUs are basically the Tesco Value version of Tom Cruise in Minority Report, in that they are tasked with âpreventing the crime before it happensâ but instead of using a damp Samantha Morton, they drive around in unmarked cars stopping and searching mainly black kids. In the ten hours the BBC spend with the Hackney patrol they chase âthree young men in masks and hoodies on bikesâ but fail to catch them, and search âthree young black menâ who are âsuspiciously parkedâ but find nothing.
đťđŚ You might remember a few weeks ago we told you about 60 Sloane Avenue in Chelsea, the âluxury buildingâ owned by the Vatican, thatâs worth abut ÂŁ200 million. We also mentioned that the building was a âtoxic assetâ thanks to the âmistakes or fraudulent actsâ made during the acquisition of the building. This week the Italian businessman who helped to broker the purchase of the building in the first place was arrested in London on money laundering charges. According to Bloomberg, Gianluigi Torzi is accused of âextorting the Holy See of 15 million euros during the purchase of the propertyâ. If reading Dan Brown novels has taught us anything it's that the real culprit is probably an albino monk, and the clue to his guilt lies somewhere in the National Gallery.
đ Before the elections there was a lot of debate around the environmental impact of The Silvertown Tunnel, the âtwin-bore road tunnelâ (you can almost hear Alan Partridge saying that, canât you?) that will go under the Thames between Silvertown and the Greenwich Peninsula, to try and relieve a bit of pressure on the Blackwall Tunnel. Last month, transport planners and climate experts were worried enough about the impact of the scheme to write a letter to the Mayor asking for work to be stopped so it could be properly evaluated. As a result TFL have downed tools and pledged to listen to all the concerns⌠Just kidding! Theyâve spent another ÂŁ50m quid on it and âaccelerated the physical works.â
â The Low Traffic Neighbourhood debate continues to rumble on. Now, the best friend of rapper Ty (the Brixton-based MC and producer who died last year after contracting coronavirus) is taking Lambeth council to court over their use of LTNs. Sofia Sheakh, who also lives in Brixton, suffers from sarcoidosis, and claims the scheme has âquadrupled her journey time to vital hospital appointmentsâ and âthe council did not conduct an equalities evaluation ahead of introducing the LTN.â
đ We might as well get all the transport-related rows out the way in one go. Taxi unions are upset about the designated âpick up pointsâ that Uber have created in Soho, saying that they are taxi ranks in all but name and âset a dangerous precedent for the survival of the ailing black cab industry.â For their part, Uber says they have to set up these spots because âthe pedestrianisation of some areas of Soho has left riders unsure of the best place to meet their driver.â Wired has a long article detailing just how Uberâs introduction of pick up spots could contravene 150-year-old laws that were designed to regulate horse-drawn hackney carriages.
đď¸ Earlier this year Secret Cinema got permission to host their âimmersiveâ Dirty Dancing experience on Walthamstow Sports Ground, despite hundreds of objections from residents who were a bit surprised that local children would be deprived of a huge public space over the summer holidays. Thankfully, Secret Cinema has now postponed their fancy dress party based on a film about illegal abortion, citing âongoing uncertainty around the hosting of mass gatherings, and the lack of Covid-19 cancellation insuranceâ. As someone put it back in January, maybe next year they could âstick to abandoned warehouses in the middle of the docklands [and] not hoover up vast amounts of public funds.â
đď¸ Talking of mass gatherings⌠The Mayor announced this week that âfan zonesâ (the most Orwellian of all the sports terms) will be set up in Trafalgar Square this summer to âscreen all of England's Euro 2021 matches, together with the semi-finals and finalâ. Capacity for the first two matches will be limited to 750 people, and only key workers will able to attend. After that, if everything goes to plan and all restrictions are lifted on June 21, that number will go up to 9,500 people. Key workers are also going to be invited to England's final group game on June 22, but the majority of tickets will be made available via public ballot.
đď¸ Mercedes F1 team boss and the man with the coolest name in sport, Toto Wolff, is âpressingâ Sadiq Kahn to host an F1 race on the streets of London, according to the Standard. Toto is quoted as saying that âracing in London would top everything and I hope that the Mayor of London and Mr Johnson read this and we get that going.â How can Sadiq ignore pressure like that?!
đ No pressure needed to get American Football to come to London. The NFL announced this week that the Atlanta Falcons will âhostâ the New York Jets at Spursâ Stadium on October 10, and the Jacksonville Jaguars go up against the Miami Dolphins on October 17, also at Tottenham. No news yet on when tickets will become available but you can register your interest here.
đ Youâve got to admire the nerve of the Selfridges PR team. Just three days after someone was stabbed in the leg in their store during a âmass knife brawlâ they put out a press release letting people know that they can get married in there. Yep, Selfridges (not that one) has a wedding licence now, so if you want a ânon-traditional ceremony in an iconic locationâ then you can have your âmicro weddingâ (up to 20 guests) in a suite on the fourth floor (just round the corner from the Womenâs Denim Studio and the kidsâ toy shop⌠does it get any more romantic than that?).
â Sad news that one of central Londonâs oldest and most iconic shops, Arthur Beale on Shaftesbury Avenue, is closing. Bealeâs has been trading in nautical equipment and accessories since the 16th Century (itâs been on Shaftesbury Avenue since 1843), but has fallen victim to the double whammy of a global pandemic and London rents. Thereâs a bit more about the history of the shop over on its Wikipedia page.
Arts and culture bits
â˝ Back to football briefly, because Chelsea FC has commissioned âa series of illustrations, films and performances celebrating Londonâs creative talent.â The campaign, called Chelsea Creates includes animations, collage and this illustration of giant Chelsea players standing over the city. (Did a football club just deliver some better London-based art than David Hockney?)
đ§ From giant footballers, to giant refugees. A 12-foot puppet of a Syrian girl will âwalkâ 5,000 miles from the Syria-Turkey border to the UK later this year. The Good Chance theatre company are taking their puppet, Little Amal through Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Belgium, stopping off in London at the V&A for a 10th-birthday party, before finishing up in Manchester.
đ London is all set to get its biggest new theatre since the National opened on the South Bank in 1976. The 1,575-seat, ÂŁ100 million Olympia theatre is part of the ÂŁ1.3 billion Olympia exhibition and conference centre redevelopment, and the plan is for it to open in mid to late 2025.
đź Meanwhile, over at the National, theyâre preparing to reopen this June with After Life, a play based on a 1998 Japanese film in which recently deceased people have to choose the single best memory of their life to live over and over again for eternity. The FT takes looks at why they decided to choose a play about death at this particular moment.
đł Last bit of theatre news: Terry Gilliam is coming back to the West End (the last time he was here was to direct the opera The Damnation of Faust at the ENO in 2011). The ex-Python is going to be directing a new production of Sondheimâs âfairytale mash-up musicalâ Into the Woods (last seen being butchered by James Corden in the 2014 film adaptation).
đ˛ A âlife-sizedâ Monopoly Game is coming to Tottenham Court Road this summer. Weâre ignoring for a second that an actual âlife-sizedâ game of Monopoly would take up most of central London, because this â4D experienceâ seems to be stretching the concept of Monopoly to its very limits. Apparently it will involve âa huge board, escape rooms and team challengesâ that include âtrying to stage a heist in Mayfair, competing against a clock to build some of London's iconic buildings, solving a baffling murder mystery...â. There will also be âa retail outletâ (insert joke about only real money being accepted) and a âMonopoly-themed bar and restaurantâ. It opens in August and you can book tickets now via the website (worth visiting for the graphics of a highly diverse set of individuals enjoying oversized Monopoly props more than anyone has ever enjoyed anything).
đź If you want something immersive that doesnât involve fighting with your family over imaginary real estate, then maybe try âthe world's first VR operaâ. Current, Rising opens at the Linbury Theatre in Covent Garden on May 20 with each performance lasting 15 minutes, during which up to four people can traverse âthe landscapes of the night, from twilight to dawn, exploring ideas of isolation, connection, and collective reimagination.â Confused? Hereâs a video that looks at how the âhyper-real operaâ was created (which is twice as long as the opera itself):
đť Sam Roberts has been documenting Londonâs âghost signsâ for years now. Through Twitter, Instagram, his website and walking tours, Roberts has been collecting photographs and stories of the âfading painted signsâ that can still be (just) seen on walls across the capital. Now heâs Kickstarting âthe most comprehensive book on ghost signs ever published, focusing on the hand-painted relics of London's advertising pastâ and you can back it here.
đ¸ Thanks to LiB reader Matthew Vandeputte who sent us a link to his video in which he attempts to capture a long exposure picture of the London skyline âthrough an analog pinhole cameraâ. And when he says âlong exposureâ he means âlooooooong exposureâ. This picture was four months in the making.
Food and drink bits
đť From May 27 the South Bank is going to be home to âLondonâs biggest beer gardenâ. Between the Bridges is going to take up 4,000 square feet of space between Westminster and Waterloo bridges, and is less âbeer gardenâ and more âgiant outdoor events spaceâ. Itâs going to have âThe Gardenâ where youâll find âtwo bars; food and a theatrical space,â âThe Pierâ which will have mini golf and Tejo (the Colombian sport that involves throwing stuff at small explosives); and The Dock, which has another stage and another bar. For entertainment theyâre promising drag brunches hosted by Lawrence Chaney, a massive street food line up, a series of themed markets, and gigs from the likes of Joe Goddard, Gilles Peterson, and Norman Jay. You can book tables and tickets now.
đ Coincidentally, âthe worldâs largest Udon restaurantâ thatâs coming to Liverpool Street this summer will also take up 4,000 square feet. The Japanese juggernaut Marugame Udon already has over 1,000 restaurants across the globe but this will be their first in London. The space (taking over what used to be Wahaca on Widegate Street) will feature a âtraditional Kagawa-style udon kitchen,â including a massive kam (or udon boiler). And, if you really really like noodles, right now they have a promotion to win free Udon for a year.
đ Le Bab have been serving fine dining kebabs in their âsecretâ subterranean Covent Garden location for a couple of years now, and they recently became part of Kraft Dalston. Now they're opening a late-night kebab shop in Old Street. Le Bab will be open until 5am but will be serving more upscale dishes than your average early hours eatery, such as the Pepperoni Pork Shawarma and the Dirty Vegan Kebab, which involves "Beyond Meat, house-pickled cucumber, sweet chilli relish, crispy fries, vegan mayo, sumac, vegan fondue sauce and cress.â Cress!
đŽ El Pastor has a reputation as one of the few decent Mexican restaurants in London, and now co-founders Sam Hart and Crispin Somerville have taken over what used to be Hix Soho. The ground floor will be serving up their usual menu of tacos and tostadas but in the basement theyâve created a bar âinspired by the nightclub Sam and Crispin ran in the 90s and 00s in Mexico Cityâ. It opens in June, but you can book spaces now via their website.
đŽ đŽ In fact, you canât move for tacos in London at the moment. From Monday, Tigre Tacos is graduating from food truck pop-up to permanent space at The Gunmakers pub in Clerkenwell. We really want to visit this place, if only because the chef Ramon Ramos has the nickname âEl Tigreâ (and for the exclusively seafood and vegetarian menu that features things like lobster tail tacos).
đĄ If tacos arenât doing it for you then maybe try the Japan Centre, which has just installed Londonâs first dedicated mochi bar. Donât know what mochi is? You obviously havenât spent enough time on TikTok. Itâs the highly versatile chewy rice cake that can be flavoured and coloured in all sorts of Instagram-friendly ways. At the Japan Centreâs Mochi Bar you can pick up mochi donuts, mochi cookies, mochi ice cream and mochi dango âskewered chewy mochi rice balls covered in a variety of sweet traditional Japanese sauce options, including kuromitsu black sugar syrup.â
P.S. The BBC has a very serious article about how deadly mochi is. Beware the mochi!
â Quick Pret update: You can get your flat whites in Tesco now. The chain is opening four branches shops inside Tesco stores, âstarting with a concession in the Kensington, London superstore in June.â
Long read of the week
Weâre going back to the FT for our long read this week. This time for a look at the grassroots revival of Crystal Palace Park (home to the worldâs most inaccurate dinosaurs, and the soon-to-be-reopened Bowl concert stage, which is playing host to a bunch of gigs this summer).
