LIFE MOVES PRETTY FAST...

Frank's Cafe & Campari Bar - Peckham

Last year Frank Boxer, Paloma Gormley, Lettice Drake and Hannah Barry Gallery joined forces to create a pop-up art/food experience that was my favourite of the summer. They took over the roof top and top floor of the rather skanky Peckham multi-storey car park and created a sculpture exhibition and a restaurant on the roof.

(Pix from AR - hope that's ok! www.arplus.com/5176/franks-cafe-peckham-london-by-paloma-gormley-and-lettice-drake)

It opens up again on the 2nd July and I'd really recommend checking it out. It's opposite Peckham Rye train station (12 mins from Victoria, London Bridge or Blackfriars) and open Thursday through Saturday until the end of the summer.

The menu is good though limited given the nature of the space. The atmosphere can be a bit too trendy for its own good at times but its a big enough space for it never to feel crowded and the views at sunset are just wonderful.

This is the official website with all the details.

LeCool is the coolest thing that I have seen for ages!

Popped into Magma last week and by chance discovered my new favourite book, LeCool: A Weird and Wonderful Guide to London. Maybe I have been living with my head buried in a cultural sandbox but somehow news of LeCool had passed me by.

How is that possible?

This is an utterly brilliant, beautiful book and I have already brought 3 copies for my present box to give as gifts to some lucky friends in the future.

Does everyone else know about LeCool expect for me?!?

If not they should!

This is a little taster of the beginning:

"WE CHOSE THIS CITY

We came here in a Transit, the rest of the band asleep on the flight cases in the back.
We came here in a borrowed suit and our funeral tie to be interviewed for that big-money job in the city.
We came to graffiti the trains at Willesden Junction one night, met some people, got a job in an art supplies shop and ripped up our return ticket.
We came here because of Jeffrey Bernard, or Jazzy B, or Johnny Rotten.
The myths are all true. Dragons stalk the city, the streets are paved with gold. There are angels in Peckham Rye and paradise is by way of Kensal Green.
We're here because we choose to be. This is our London."

It had me from the very first page. It's poetry as well as a guidebook. It brings a lump to my throat.

Apart from the excellence of the copywriting, the design is incredible with each page having a fresh visual look and feel.

But it's the fact that they have cool unknown stuff to do and see in places like New Cross, Stoke Newington and Archway that is so great. It's real London. Messy, inspiring and unique.

I am a born and bred Londoner and pride myself on knowing the place inside out (although I don't really do West London for some inverted snobbery reason), anyway I got so many new top tips - The restaurant at the Indian YMCA, the CrossBones Graveyard in SE1, the Romanian restaurant in the Old Bailey, the private room at Princess Louise in High Holborn ("London's best pub? Could be.") and Unit C103 in Deptford's Creekside.

Hunt for it in a High Street bookshop because it doesn't bloody well seem to be on Amazon (!), you can also buy direct via PayPal on their own website.

I almost want to give you a money back guarantee that you'll love it, but I won't - so you'll just have to trust me...

(Mat Osman you NEED to sort out the lack of Amazon stock asap!!)

The Londonist's new Sandwich Correspondent

I met Jonathan kind of randomly at a beta-testing for Trusted Places. We got to talking and we worked out that we worked in the same industry. Then we exchanged blog-cards and I realized that he was the genius behind Around Britain With A Paunch. This is really a GREAT foodie blog, the writing is witty and insightful and the tips are always spot-on. If you haven't read it and like food, what are you waiting for?

Anyway Jonathan has a new job outside of advertising which is being the Sandwich Correspondent for the Londonist. This is his first Sandwichist post....

So when Jonathan said let's meet up for lunch, I really had to think hard about a sandwich place to take him. Victoria is not known for its culinary delights, but what was funny was when I knew that I needed to find somewhere un-chain-y, somewhere really good and interesting it made me look at my local streets with a totally fresh eye.

And you know what, we found some brilliant places that I had never even noticed before - Portuguese cafes, Spanish tortilla bars and Gastronomeria Italia on Upper Tatchbrook Street. Its been there for 30+ years, a great little neighbourhood local with exquisite sandwiches .

Anyway, I will be keeping an eye on Netvibes for Jonathan's review.

But it was an interesting exercise, if you had a Sandwich Correspondent come to have lunch close to your work, where would you take them?

London 2012 Handover Party

As the Beijing Games ended this afternoon and the London handover began there was a free party for 30,000 in the Mall in London.

We saw British Olympians  past and present and future hopefuls, bands like Scouting for Girls, Will Young, The Feeling and McFly and the Red Arrows.

And you know what, it was great.

A lively,confident, happy afternoon.

With no aggression, no arrogance, just thousands of people dancing and singing -  celebrating and looking forward to 2012.

A multi-generational, multi-cultural gathering that somehow seemed to sum up a lot of what's good about this country.

I just don't think that we're very good at being patriotic in this country (there's a great Orwell essay on just this BTW), sometimes we seem to either confuse it for racism, or we can get rather snobby and class-conscious about flag-waving, in fact even the term "flag-waving" has negative connotations. So it was lovely to see that finally we as a nation seem to be more at ease with being proud of our country. That doesn't mean being blind to our faults, but it does mean celebrating our achievements.

This is the London 2012 Flickr group and the YouTube channel.

So go on, celebrate. It feels pretty good.

More pix on my Flickr account.

London 2012 logo

It's not a bad logo.

In my opinion it was the nu-rave colours that were added to it when it was launched that made it so challenging.

I actually really like it!

The free 2012 Handover Party in The Mall was announced yesterday and this logo unveiled:

We vox-popped this logo last week and even taxi drivers positive about it!

London tube - late again

Given that that we are almost a decade into the 21st century, why on earth are London Underground so proud that they are: "...Moving Into The 21st Century."
Shouldn't they be there already?

Kids Company - Camila Batmanghelidjh

Camila has been a bit of a personal heroine of mine for a while now.  We live  close to the estates in and around Peckham where Camila and Kids Company (which she founded in 1996) do most of their youth out-reach work.

Kids Company has gone into some of the most deprived areas of London and made a genuine movement of social change. Working with what she calls "lone children", children with effectively no functioning parent, Camila has inspired and empowered a generation.  It was really eye-opening talking to her about the kids that she works with.  She talked about Maslows hierarchy of needs and the fact that the majority of families that she works with are functioning at the most basic Survival level -  worrying about paying the rent, if the bailiffs are on their way and whether their kids will be stabbed when they play outside. 

I am interested in VCCP becoming a partner to Kids Company - offering financial support, but also providing work opportunities. One of the things that Camila was talking about was the fact that these kids need to have the opportunities to engage with a wider social and working world outside of their estates. We talked about offering kids the chance to come and do work experience in VCCP. I think its a brilliant idea. When we pitched the School Food Trust we had two teenagers from a Comprehensive in Deptford working with us on the  pitch, it helped to keep us creatively and strategically honest and they provided a constant stream of brilliant ideas.  They were also the people that we used to do research with other kids as we felt that teenagers open up much more honestly with other teenagers.  They helped us win the pitch no doubt about it.

I'd be interested to know if any other agencies do something like this either with Kids Company or other organizations like  Kids Company. 

The New York-ification of London

I've been doing a bit of writing for The Spectator which I am really enjoying.

There is a new article of mine which is in today's edition about "The New York-ification of London" - it's all about overanxious, overachievers, fancy dress dogs and Alpha Dads.

I've uploaded a PDF, but if you live in the UK buy the magazine so that I can prove to Matt D'ancona that I can help generate revenue (or you can read it on the site...)

The Evening Standard have phoned as they wanted to do a follow up feature, but none of the Alpha Dads wanted to talk to a journalist...have a read of the article, it'll all make sense

Download Nylon_Spectator.pdf

Trusted Places

I'm a bit of a Trusted Places newbie but I think that it is brilliant. It's a simple concept, in fact one that I've chatted about setting up with friends in the past (I think that we called the site Tip Top Top Tips) Based out of the insight that we are always looking for top tips for people who we trust, Trusted Places does exactly what it says on the tin.

Why do I like it? Well the suggestions are smart and not always expected, I think that the visual based registration is very cool and it's easy, both to upload and to search.

Then I find out that I am not alone in my admiration,  the Guardian featured Trusted Friends founders Walid and Sokratis in their top 1o UK digital start-ups.

Walid and I connected through my post on the Covent Garden Night Market and he invited me to their beta testing of their new site - you can read all about it on Trusted Places Blog. Odd after being in so many usability labs suddenly having to do it myself, but enjoyable.

Interesting mix of people including Ian Forrester from Backstage at the BBC, who blogs at Cubic Garden, and a girl who sat opposite me who is a food taster for Waitrose and whose life seems to consist of eating her way along Marylebone High Street.

Well worth signing up and having an explore of TrustedPlaces.

Covent Garden Night Market

In my opinion Covent Garden is usually a fairly hellish tourist trap.

Being a born and bred Londoner, I have tried to avoid the area for as long as I can remember. It tends to be full of annoying fire-eaters, bad mime artists, novelty gifts and hoards of Euro-tweens with bright ruck-sacks.

But...it is a beautiful area and filled with incredible history. It began as a Convent Garden in the  early 13th century under the reign of King John and after the dissolution of the monasteries, became a market. In the time of Samuel Pepys not only was it known as "the larder of London," it was the most important market in the whole country.

In an attempt to move Covent Garden back to its gastronomic heritage, a foodie Night Market is running every Thursday through August. It's great. I went last week with my dad and Francois - between us we managed to eat a vast quantity of wonderful food (Cornish oysters, Ghanaian chicken stew, green chili beef, Burnt Sugar fudge and Vietnamese coffee) and purchased lots more to take home with us, including more french cheese than we could carry.

If only Covent Garden could shift full-time into a foodie heaven like this, I think that it would connect again to the needs of real Londoners not just the needs of Euro-tweens.

Those smart folks over at The Pirate Geek are behind the PR which has been fantastic, everyone I know is talking about it and the press coverage was been amazing.

Odd shopping habits exist in Peckham

I wonder if the Christian Shop is annoyed that they are next to a sexy undies shop?

And since when does an lingerie shop sell African CDs & DVDs?

When you're in Peckham I suppose.

A range odd mix of shops to say the least...

The Thames at dusk

I've posted before about how much I love the South Bank (Messing About On The River). It manages to combine real Londoners with tourists in a way that few other places in the city seems to be able to.

Showing Serena, in from New York, around last Friday - cocktails in the Oxo Tower and then wandering over to dinner in Skylon,  we came across these sand-builders. Happily building a sofa, complete with sand fruitbowl with real fruit, candles and beer as well as an octopus and a mermaid. In typical London fashion  people were just walked past on the beach as though this was perfectly normal and happened all the time. 

Are these sand builder guys regulars on the beach? Has anyone else seen them?

And then this: An incredible water sculpture - jets of water moving up and down and schoolkids obviously finishing up a day trip having a fantastic time jumping in and out of the water.

Pure happiness.

Made me feel very proud to be a Londoner

The Banksy of Suburbia

All over SE22, on every single street I walk down!!

Someone has trod in one turd too many...

Why would you say that.... (again!)

Like the Fairtrade sign that I blogged about, this sign mystified me.

Our local high street in East Dulwich is fantastic - full of useful local shops, a proper cheesemonger, a fishmonger, a great organic butcher, old fashioned DIY stores, fruit and veg shops. Then along comes White Stuff,  a store that no-one wants, and sets up shop. There have been huge protests against them, it's totally out of keeping with the area and no-one wants them.

The sign that they put up on the outside of their new store  says "There Goes The Neighbourhood."

I agree. So obviously do the graffiti artists. So do all the people in the East Dulwich forum.

So why would they write this up outside their store?

The "retro-ghetto" 2012 logo PR disaster rumbles on

Catch Up Lady, I'm glad you're back from holiday - this is a gem...

Wolff Olins has come out of this all really badly I feel -  their website  says nothing about the issue, apart from a Press Release written before all the controversy began. They are not talking to the press, they are not saying a word. Given that they claim to be  "the world's most influential brand business" (BTW, was there a competition that I missed which Wolff Olins won giving them the right to claim this??), why aren't they doing a better job of managing their own brand?

Maybe the best thing about all of this public anger and dislike of the 2012 logo is that it is getting people talking and thinking about design and logos, which can't really be a bad thing I guess.

Does anyone like the  logo?

The Women's Institute 2.0

It's good to know that  as soon as  I do something new The Sun writes about it!

Yesterday was the first night of the East Dulwich Women's Institute and I am a proud founder member.  The WI is actually an interesting brand - traditionally considered to be a fussy, jam-making brigade of "women of a certain age" - it has having a bit of a resurrection. WIs are in the process of being set up in (yummy-mummy) areas of London like Islington, Fulham and Clapham. It seems to be part of the whole farmers markets, return to traditional Britishness thing.

While there were a lot of 30somethings with Cath Kitson bags, trendy jeans and cool glasses at the ED WI last night, it was actually a lot of fun. A chance to meet other local women and learn stuff - suggestions for what we wanted to learn about ranged from DIY, to local history, gardening and wine  and I admitted that I would quite like to know how to make chutney and jam.

I'll keep you posted on the jam front...

PSFK @ Imagination

PSFK is a great online resource full of trends, ideas and inspiration from around the world. They recently had a NYC conference which NY buddies tell me was fantastic. They are in town next week for the London leg of their "world tour"

The line-up is fresher than other conferences, which can just turn into company sales pitches. I'm especially excited about We Make Money Not Art talking about what happens when designers mess with technology,  Poke are a great creative agency so I think that Iain will be controversial and inspirational, Anomaly are the most interesting agency in the States at the moment and Johnny Vulkan has one of the best names in advertising,  and I (finally) get to meet Beeker in person as opposed to online.

Should be good, but tickets are going fast...

Messing around on the river

Out by the Thames last night - beautiful sight as 20 canoeists (is that spelt right right??) came silently down the river. My brother the photographer in pic asked them where they came come from, Shadwell they replied.  Looking on Google this morning found their site, the Tower Hamlets Canoe Club who explore the Thames together every Tuesday evening.  Think that I might have to sign up - what a fantastic way to see the city from a different vantage point.

London's East End Circus

Arnold Circus in Hoxton is an amazing piece of London history, that until recently has been forgotten. A former bandstand built in the middle of the UK's first council/social housing estate, the Boundary Estate, local residents (including my mum, who is on the back row of the photo next to me) have now decided to do something positive about it .

The Boundary Estate and Arnold Circus was the dream of one man a local vicar who was determined to rid London of its worst slum. The area around Old Nichol Street, where agencies like Mother and  Glue are now, was indescribably squalid, disease-ridden and packed with people. When the Estate was opened it was a symbol of Victorian progress. And then it was simply left to rot. Now the area which borders the wonderful Columbia Road flower market is gentrifying. It's full of art-y, middle class media types and I don't say this as a criticism in anyway at all. It's one of the reasons that they are so good at getting Arnold Circus in the news and the reason that something is being done at last.

Friends of Arnold Circus (the site appears to be down this morning annoyingly) was launched last year. They have done a great job in connecting to the local community, gathering memories from the older residents about days spent playing, dancing, listening to bands at the Circus. They are also working hard to ensure that the local ethnic communities are not side-lined, one of their most successful events has been a Carrom afternoon, an Indian game like shuffleboard or checkers.

This Sunday afternoon April 1st from 2pm - 8pm, they are hosting their first Circus on the Circus. With juggling, globe-walking, face-painting, BBQs, local hipster celebrities (I made that bit up, though there are usually some famous faces) Their pot-luck picnics, live music shows and Carrom events have been great examples of London's changing East End.

Don't forget to stop in to Leila's Shop on Calvert Avenue, the best deli in Shoreditch, and look at some of the other designer shops on the same street, it's turning into a great shopping area.

Arnold Circus is at the end of Calvert Avenue, just off Shoreditch High Street. Closest tubes are Old Street or Liverpool Street.

The death of Bobby Kennedy

Years ago my dad showed me a book by a Magnum photographer called Paul  Fusco. Fusco documented Bobby Kennedy's funeral train as it went from New York City to Arlington Cemetery, near Washington DC. The coffin was in the final coach, elevated and surrounded by glass for all to see. The crowds of Americans - of all colours, shapes and sizes - took people by surprise. The sheer numbers and their acute sense of trauma and misery was so beautifully and poignantly captured. Like all great works of art the images stuck in my mind.

In a way they remind me of some of the most powerful 9/11 photographs, which incidentally are often taken by Magnum photographers. Magnum were having their AGM downtown on 9/11, so the world's best photographers were gathered in Lower Manhattan that morning to witness the scenes of destruction.

When I learnt more about the social context of the RFK funeral train, I found the images even more fascinating. 1968 was a year that shook the confidence and self-belief of America - it was the year of the massacre at My Lai and the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in a Black Power salute in the Mexico City Olympics in a gesture that is often taken as a start point in the ending of the non-violence preached by MLK. Then added to this, the senseless horror of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. You can see the pain on all the faces watching the funeral train go past.

For the first time ever these 52  images are being shown in London, at the Host Gallery.

It's on till the 13th April. It's the ability to see stuff like this that makes me love living in London.