Yorkshire is taking on France and Scotland in the booze battle June 28, 2021 Yorkshire has just opened its first wine road and a whisky road may be next. The county now has 16 commercial vineyards and nine wineries, producing 100,000 bottles a year. The area had pedigree as a wine-producing region: the Cistercians of Kirkstall Abbey were early winemakers there, as were the Benedictine monks at Askham Richard. [...]
Where to eat in Marylebone, from crab donuts to pizza and bongos June 25, 2021 Marylebone is a strange old place, isn’t is? Not quite Mayfair, not quite Soho, not quite Fitzrovia. It’s a place you drift listlessly through en route to the train station. But it can also be a destination in itself, especially if you’re in the market for somewhere to eat. Let us guide you through a [...]
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 [...]