Staycation time: Take a break at Locke in East London’s Dalston June 25, 2021 The government’s new travel traffic light system is now crystal clear. We have “green”, which means you shouldn’t go, but it’s totally okay if you do. There is “green watchlist” which means you can book your holiday if you like, but don’t expect it to actually go ahead. There’s “amber”, which is for those countries [...]
Renegade wine made in Bethnal Green – with YOUR face on it June 24, 2021 Warwick Smith is Bethnal Green’s first and so far only winemaker, and probably the only one that puts his customers’ faces on the bottle. “We ask people to put themselves forward every year and we pick a selection. The idea is that the wines stay with the people. If we make the same wine in [...]
Thrills, spills and belly laughs: Inside the only vineyard with a helter-skelter June 23, 2021 If we can’t get to the beach or find the sun to get some colour in our faces, perhaps a vineyard will do. According to GB Wine, organizers of English Wine Week, booming sales of English and Welsh wines show our ever-growing thirst for home-grown pleasures. Lockdown has led to a spike in domestic wine [...]
Make mine a shandy: The pub favourite is making a comeback June 22, 2021 A new company is set on taking the shame out of shandy and making it trendy again. A shandy, or its close cousin the lager top, were once mainstays of the British pub scene but became increasingly rare over the last few decades, which instead saw an influx of craft beers and strong continental lagers. [...]
There are staycations – and then there’s the Savoy June 21, 2021 Tribal rivalries run strong in London, as we all know. Proper south Londoners don’t go north of the river unless under duress; east Londoners think west London is just the bit you have to fight through to get to Heathrow. But if lockdown has taught us one thing, it’s that no matter how buzzing, lively [...]
Michelin starred Pied à Terre in Fitzrovia stops lunch due to ‘Brexit and Covid’ June 21, 2021 In another sign of the post-Covid recruitment crisis, one of London’s oldest Michelin-starred restaurants has closed its lunch service until further notice. Fitzrovia’s Pied à Terre says Brexit and Covid have impacted recruitment so badly it is no longer able to open for the whole day. The restaurant said it could not “protect the welfare [...]
Meet the youngest professional winemaker in the UK June 21, 2021 At 25, Tommy Grimshaw is perhaps the youngest professional winemaker in the UK. His office is at Crawthorne Farm, part of the 1,000 hectare Langham Agricultural Estate around the Grade 1 listed Melcombe Manor House in Dorset. “We take a low intervention approach to both grape growing and wine production, meaning that all of our [...]
Marco Pierre White joins the ranks of celebrity gin distillers June 21, 2021 Marco Pierre White has been a trailblazer in many respects, but he recently became perhaps the best-known chef to produce a gin bearing his own name. The restaurateur has launched his £54.95 Mr White’s London Dry gin, made by Dai Wakely of Wales’s Cygnet Distillery. “I distinctly remember the captivating smell of the juniper berries [...]
Lindores Abbey is about to release its first whisky in… 527 years June 18, 2021 In September Gordon & MacPhail will release an 80-year-old whisky which will be the world’s oldest single malt Scotch. But for Lindores Abbey, 80 years is a mere blink of an eye. Now world’s first recorded distillery is set to release its first expression in 527 years. “To be able to bring Scotch whisky back [...]
Rosé Prosecco: Why this once-banned drink was the star of 2020 June 18, 2021 I think we can all agree that 2020 had few highlights but let me put this forward as a big hitter… Pink Prosecco. Yes, you heard correctly, rosé Prosecco was only legalised in 2020 which means last year marks the first harvest and creation of an entirely new type of wine. History was made and [...]