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Well this is a bit different from Sotheby’s. I’ve been window shopping at Sotheby’s - I actually furnished much of my Stoke Newington house from the Criterion Auction Rooms!
The Islington branch is in that little bit of Essex Road that hasn’t been complete ly gentrified yet. You find lovely antiques, but you can also find […]
We’ve all seen the comic cuts where someone sneezes or scratches his nose and ends up buying a Van Gogh he can’t pay for as the auctioneer bangs his gavel…
Don’t worry. It’s not going to happen to you. Not at Sotheby’s, anyway - you have to register, and use a numbered paddle to bid. So […]
London has street cred. Some places have no street cred at all. In fact, London - the thriving, bustling metropolis - is ringed by towns with negative credibility.
Forty five minutes by train from any London station you find these places. Southend. Sidcup. Croydon. Harlow. Basildon.
What’s wrong with Basildon?
It’s a ghastly place. A town in the […]
London is a city full of trees. The plane trees of its garden squares, the monkey puzzle trees of suburban villas, the great hornbeams of Epping Forest - they’re all part of the city’s character.
Some of these trees are just bit part players in the overall theatre of the city. But others play major roles […]
Margate’s a funny place. A bit like Southend, it’s a seaside resort that has seen better days. It’s a bit faded; the Dreamlands amusement park announced it was to close in 2003 (though it did keep going, in summer only, till the rollercoaster got burned down this year).
It doesn’t even have a decent football team. […]
I’m a big Ian McKellen fan. And his Richard III is, to my mind, one of the great Shakespearian performances.
But it’s also a wonderful guide to early 20th century building in London - the great days of Art Deco.
And what I think McKellen got absolutely right was the political ambivalence of this architecture. Take a […]
Coming up at the beginning of August is the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF).
Run by the Campaign for Real Ale, it’s volunteer staffed - I’ll be doing a stint on the bar this year - and is the nation’s premier festival for real ale and fine foreign beers.
There will be at least 450 beers available throughout […]
Shoot London is running a photo treasure hunt in Hackney next weekend.
Ten clues will take you to different corners of Hackney, which you have to capture with your camera. To participate, you need a team of two to four people, and you need to reserve your tickets online.
Shoot London’s photo-hunts are usually paid for events, […]
I always dreamed of the kind of English country house that isn’t grand, that isn’t palatial, that carries its centuries lightly, that you reach at the end of a long, winding, drive through the woods; and when you get there, it’s on of those houses that’s been built over the ages, always adding new bits […]
London station pubs are generally rather disappointing. Their prices are often high, the beer offering lacklustre (fizzy keg for the most part), and the premises depressing.
The Betjeman Arms might mark an interesting new departure. It has real ale - Adnams, Meantime, and Sharp’s (’Betjeman Bitter’) as well as Belgian beer. That’s a very interesting list […]
A visitor’s and resident’s guide to London - events, attractions, art, ’must sees’ and offbeat sights, restaurants and pubs, and how to get around.
Written by Andrea Kirkby [email] for b5media.
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