While the media obsessed over political resignations, what was happening in West Hampstead this week? MISSING PERSON: Daisy has been missing from Kilburn, London since January 10th. The battle over the development of Gondar Gardens continues.At the same end of town, there are some changes to the proposed development at No.1 Mill Lane. Further down […]
small hours is different. It would be as at home at Tate Modern as it is in the Hampstead Theatre’s Michael Frayn space. Indeed as the small audience (restricted to just 25 per performance) assembled in a hallway, we were told this was an “installation”. We were then asked to remove our shoes. The play, […]
Another Monday, another first match of the season. As the league began again, the Wanderers were able to wipe the memories of last week’s defeat and start afresh with a match against Abacus Athletic. Matthew Margot reports Match day 1. Monday 17th January. KO 6.30 West Hampstead Wanderers 7 – 11 Abacus Athletic West Hampstead […]
While waters rose around the world, what were the good people of NW6 getting up to? Locals’ sporting prowess was put to the challenge in the first match of the season for the new West Hampstead Wanderers. Unfortunately it was a 10-4 defeat. Fortunately, the league system was completely changed at the end of the […]
Yesterday, the newly formed West Hampstead Wanderers kicked off their season in the Hampstead 7evens League with a game against The Gym United. Player/manager Nick Hudgell reports: Match day 1. Monday 10th January. KO 7.15. The Gym United 10-4 West Hampstead Wanderers The first game of a new season, let alone for a new […]
While everyone was heading back to work, and breaking New Year’s resolutions as fast as possible, how did 2011 start in West Hampstead? The major local news of the week was the stabbing of a 24 year-old woman in broad daylight. A man has been charged. The local sport of Ken-spotting was made much easier […]
Yes, it’s catch-up time. While you were all gorging yourselves on mince pies, feeling like death warmed up while forcing yourself to be nice to elderly relatives, and then seeing in the New Year, what was happening in West Hampstead and surrounds? There was snow of course. Lots of you commented on Camden’s response on […]
Happy New Year! So here we are in 2011, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. But what does the next 12 months hold in store? Rather than speculate wildly I thought I’d ask my Twitter followers to speculate wildly instead. And they didn’t disappoint. Here’s what some of you think will happen this year. You’re a sardonic bunch […]
–>It’s been a good year for the blog and Twitter and the WHamp community generally. We’ve had lots of meet-ups over dinner, drinks and even our first picnic. The blog was mentioned a couple of times in The Guardian and I was the only non-mainstream media person allowed to the Hampstead & Kilburn election count in May. We had […]
Christmas mostly…. “What have I missed since…” is taking a well-deserved break over the holidays. It will be back in the New Year. In the meantime, enjoy the festive season and look out for the Big Whamp Quiz of the Year next week!
While you were waiting for your deliveries from Amazon and kissing your colleague on the photocopier, what was happening in West Hampstead? It was another quiet week, dominated of course by snow. The closure of Brent Cross was big news on Twitter – it was even briefly a global trending topic. Otherwise there was the usual […]
So, don’t know whether any of you noticed, but there’s been a light sprinkling of snow in NW6 over the past couple of days. How do you think the council, TfL, and other public bodies have coped? Was enough done in advance? Was there enough grit? Have they reacted fast enough given the sudden dumping of a […]
I know, I know, it’s not even Christmas yet, but some of you lovely people want to know what excitement is on offer on New Year’s Eve in the neighbourhood. And who am I to stand between you and a continuation of your borderline alocholism. In West Hampstead, The Gallery is having an 80s themed […]
This was my first time at Hampstead’s smallest theatre. Pentameters is a tiny space with about 50 seats, accessed from some narrow stairs behind The Horseshoe pub on Heath Street. The stage is surprisingly big and, for this adaptation of The Nutcracker, creatively adorned. Purists expecting a faithful rendition of Tchaikovsky’s ballet are in for […]
Ok – I don’t normally do free advertising like this but, as it’s Christmas, I’m making an exception. Fortune Green Interiors (who had a stall at the Christmas Market) is running a Christmas fingerpuppet knitting course on Thursday evening [Ed 15/12: this has been cancelled due to illness] and a Christmas card lino print course […]
While you were throwing paint at the Royal Rolls and wishing Wagner was still in X Factor, what was happening “in da hood” (as we never refer to it)? Well, not a lot in fact. It was a very quiet week in West Hampstead. The saga of Kilburn’s Christmas tree continued. The Kilburn Times covered […]
There was a pleasingly busy flow of browsers and shoppers around West End Green on Saturday for the first ever West Hampstead Christmas market. In mercifully mild and dry weather, local businesses and craftspeople had a good selection of stalls. Feedback from both stallholders and residents was generally positive and fingers crossed that this will […]
My contribution to the various photos of this evening’s lovely sunset over north-west London
It’s been a busy week of snowy excitement – but while you were reading Wikileaks, what whampleaks did you miss? On Monday, local residents got together for an area action group meeting to discuss transport, shops and the budget cuts. Sadly, it wasn’t the most representative group of West Hampstead residents. On Thursday, a different group of […]
Some of you may have noticed that last month I added a little badge on the right with my Wikio London Blog ranking. This is based mostly on other blogs in the list linking to you and is therefore of dubious import what with so many of these blogs having their own local focus. Moving […]
The fifth whampgather – a local tweet-up/party/excuse for drinking – took place on Thursday at The Lion on West End Lane in West Hampstead. Once again, it was fantastic to welcome familiar faces and plenty of new friends into the community. There seemed to be a healthy dose of mingling taking place, which is sort of […]
Given that it’s now December and it’s snowing, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to do a quick round-up of the best places for Christmas shopping in West Hampstead. Since Dizar sadly closed, North West 6 on the corner of West End Lane and Blackburn Road is the only full-on gift shop on the street with […]
Midsummer was a hit at Edinburgh. It is actually set in Edinburgh at midsummer and is simply a story of boy meets girl, or rather girl meets boy. The girl is a divorce lawyer, the boy a petty criminal. Over the course of the play they let us look into their lives as 35 year-olds. […]
After the Area Group meeting had disbanded, West Hampstead Lib Dem councillor Nancy Jirira approached me to make what were distinctly party-political points. “The Labour party in Camden,” she said “needs to be managing more efficiently, rather than just focusing on ‘cuts cuts cuts’”. She accused Labour – now in control of Camden council – […]
On a cold Monday evening, Liberal Democrat councillor Keith Moffitt (West Hampstead) kicked off the first combined area action group meeting. This is the successor to the local area forums. All six of the local councillors were present (all Lib Dems). The audience – around 80 people, the vast majority being older members of the […]
While you were watching events in North Korea and waiting for snow, what news did you miss in West Hampstead? Open and shut caseThe biggest local news even became a UK trending topic on Twitter for a while. The Luminaire, Kilburn’s premier live music venue, announced it will close at the end of the year.Another […]
Between royal wedding plans and Irish bailouts, what has been happening in the ‘hood Big news first: The big local tweet-up/hyperlocal get together is on December 2nd at The Lion on West End Lane. We have an area reserved at the back of the bar. If you could let me know if you can make it, […]
Kilburn High Road gets into the festive spirit on December 3rd. With Glenda, and everything
The redoubtable Annie Mole, whose Going Underground blog is one of London’s finest, today posted a photo of yet another tube map mashup. We’ve had lots of these of late – puns on film titles, anagrams, movies shot in the location – all following in the footsteps of Simon Patterson’s 1992 work, The Great Bear. […]
While you were rioting on Millbank and watching landmark events in Burma, what was the news closer to home? Politics The Guardian ran a gloomy piece on the impact of cuts based on an unnamed inner London borough. Could it have been Camden?There’s already talk of libraries being closed in Brent.And library resources in Camden […]
Rings Pizza & Kebab shop has finally reopened as Wood Grill House (in what must have been one of the slowest ever refits of a kebab shop to a kebab shop). Local kebab fans Blake and Jess popped in last week to sample its wares. So, what did they think? “As soon as we set […]
Barraco will never be somewhere that picks up much passing trade. From whichever way you approach it, it takes a leap of faith to believe that there’s going to be any commercial businesses at all, let alone a half-decent restaurant serving up a slice of Brazil on this residential back road. As this was to […]
If Martin Scorsese collaborated with Tennessee Williams, you might end up with something like Gary Lennon’s superb .45. Set in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen in 1977, this play bristles with sexual tension, moral ambiguity hangs thickly in the air, and there’s an ever present sense of danger. It’s a moody drama set to a blaring […]
As soon as you walk into Waitrose’s gleaming new cookery school, it’s clear they’ve splashed the cash. I went along to the Finchley Road branch, above which the school is located, to find out whether aspiring home cooks should do the same. Our aim for the evening: perfect macaroons. The space is certainly attractive: there’s […]
So we had tube strikes, media strikes and fireworks, but what’s got you excited this week (apart from the fully functioning Jubilee Line this weekend of course)? OoooooohThere was a bank robbery in Willesden Green. A Kilburn councillor discussed how housing benefit changes might affect the local area. There’s yet another film-based tube map; this […]
Yesterday I tweeted about Hampstead 7evens, a local seven-a-side football organisation based in Fortune Green. West Hampstead local Thom Hoffman was trying to get a team together and then faster than a Gareth Bale strike into the bottom right corner/Theo Walcott run down the line* people were replying left right and centre expressing an interest. Then, […]
I enter the Mayor’s parlour on a wet Saturday afternoon clutching an espresso from St Pancras. The mayoral ermine is on display, along with an incongruous golden football boot in a cabinet that also contained silver cake slices masquerading as trowels (for ceremonial brick laying you understand), punch bowls and goodness knows what else. But […]
It’s been a relatively quiet week in West Hampstead while you were carving pumpkins and dodging exploding toner cartridges. The West Hampstead community Christmas market has been given the green light.I got caught up in a CBBC candid camera style prank at The Wet Fish Café.The fire brigade union strikes continue, with one planned for Nov […]
Halloween is around the corner, but these days it’s more of an excuse to smear black lipstick on the rim of a cocktail glass than to knock at your neighbour’s door in the vain hope of receiving some Haribo (or a tangerine if they’re middle class). So, you’re in your best Morticia Addams or Freddie […]
What happened in West Hampstead while George Osborne was giving all our money to Wayne Rooney? The first cut is the deepestLast Monday, a rush hour power failure left Jubilee tube trains stuck between St Johns Wood and Baker Street and people (including many #whampers) had to be evacuated.On Wednesday, when attention was on the government’s […]
While you were trying to get to sleep by counting rescued Chilean miners, and following a day in the life of the Greater Manchester Police, what was happening in NW6? Two road accidents in two days – in the same place? A Domino’s delivery guy was lying in the road on Friday night after apparently […]
I know it’s only October, but there’s a reason why I’m bringing up the “C” word so early. And that reason is: volunteers! New West Hampstead councillor Gillian Risso-Gill is looking to get a Christmas Fair off the ground. The idea is to support the local shops (which we’re all generally in favour of, right?) […]
Holly Penfield has a one-woman show (+ band and bartender!) at Hampstead’s New End Theatre. The Saloon Singer sees the cabaret artist link together a collection of songs from “One for the Road” to “Rhythm of Life” via “The Boys in the Backroom” and a host of others – some classics, some less well-known. In a […]
Small & Beautiful is neither particularly small nor particularly beautiful. It is commonly described as ‘cheap and cheerful’, which seems a much more appropriate moniker. On Thursday night only half the restaurant, which nestles against the Overground railway bridge on Kilburn High Road, was being used, but the place was buzzy when we arrived. Menus […]
It’s Tuesday, there’s footie on the telly and nothing in the fridge. What are you going to do? One word, five letters, incorrect transliteration of the original Italian spelling. Yes, it’s pizza time. A select group of locals with refined palates and empty stomachs decided to investigate pizza delivery options in West Hampstead – and […]
In a scene towards the end of Enlightenment, one of the characters is wrapped in a sheet; one assumes the impression of a straitjacket is deliberate. Three-quarters of the way through this production, I was feeling similarly constrained. I wasn’t being led down blind alleys or fed red herrings. Any room for speculation was blocked […]
“A party for Me?” thought Pooh to himself. “How grand!” There can be very few people who have not encountered Winnie the Pooh. One of the great characters of children’s literature and I can’t help but feel also a precursor of Homer Simpson. Lovable, of “little brain”, and ever so slightly obssessed with food. Pooh’s […]
Last night, OxjamKilburn’s four-night comedy festival kicked off. Along with Friday’s fashion show at the State building, this is all building up to October 23rd’s OxjamKilburn takeover when your favourite Kilburn music venues play host to a day of live music – all accessible for a tenner if you’re quick and £12.50 if you’re not (wegottickets.com). […]
So, you’ve been following Chilean mine rescues while whistling John Lennon tunes, but what’s been happening closer to home? ImagineThe former reservoir at Gondar Gardens could become houses. Locals aren’t happy. Photos of the plans and the objections, and ten things objectors think you should know. Proposals for accommodation for 350 students in Blackburn Road were approved on appeal. Ticket […]
As London commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Blitz, I thought I’d take a look at how West Hampstead fared during the war. There are tales of amazing rescues, tragic stories of wedding parties, and some explanation for the streetscape we all inhabit today. The old borough of Hampstead was not as affected as badly as some […]
All the local news that’s happened while you were wondering whether Ed or David would lead Labour, and why Wales in October was ever a good idea for golf. Brotherly LoveTalking of the Milibands – they are local boys of course.Why did Glenda vote under her married name of Hodges? Kilburn LoveBlog postings by me on […]
The arrival of The Betsy Smith – a pub/music venue – on the Kilburn High Road is yet another indication that the old Roman road is finding its way back onto the musical map. After my brief round-up of West Hampstead’s musical heritage, I was delighted to be invited to join accredited blue badge guide […]
(photo: courtesy of Kai Reysenn)? The Betsy Smith opening night last Friday attracted the crowds. The bar staff, vying for the Artful Dodger lookalike prize, were struggling. At one stage the crush at the bar was seven-deep and getting a drink took upwards of 40 minutes. Bluntly, the place was heaving. A cunningly worded press release had […]
What has happened in NW6 while Ken was winning Labour’s mayoral nomination and Delhi tried to keep the Commonwealth Games on track? Kicking off in Kilburn Much midweek hullabaloo at the announcement of a new bar in Kilburn. Friday’s launch party for The Betsy Smith launch party saw many #whampers in attendance. Some of the cocktails are […]
The summer is over, and everyone’s back at work and tweeting about the Pope. So you might have missed some of this week’s highlights. Food & flowers Achillea Flowers opens this month on Mill LaneGuglee is the newest arrival on Finchley RoadChicken chain Nandos is buying burger boy GBK Crime & punishment The Ham&High (with […]
Welcome to a new blog feature. As Twitter gets bigger and busier, I know its hard for people to stay on top of the volume of messages they receive. This means you miss stuff. So, (almost) every week I’ll post a selection of the West Hampstead news and tweets you might have missed. Long-standing #whampers […]
The quirky interior of The Arches is certianly different to anything else in the area. A multitude of lampshades dangle from the ceiling, interspersed with what look like dolls of witches. There are even (fake – please say they are fake) cobwebs on the shelves above our table. “It would be a perfect place for […]
West Hampstead hosts its fair share of literary events, but few recently have been so eagerly anticipated as the launch of the Bake-a-boo Bakery Cookbook. Sadly, I was unable to make it to the party at the tea shop, but several whampers (and many others) were in attendance, so here’s what a couple had to […]
It’s common knowledge that The Beatles auditioned at Decca studios on Broadhurst Gardens, now the English National Opera premises. The New Years Day (1962) session didn’t go as well as manager Brian Epstein hoped and resulted in the now infamous rejection: “The Beatles have no future in show business”. Also fairly well known is that The […]
Ten days or so ago, it was brought to my attention that Best One – the mini-market on the corner of Fawley Road and West End Lane – was covered in memos from Sainsbury’s regarding an impending licence application. I posted this on Twitter and got a few tweeted groans in reply, along with a more […]
Once again, whampers proved they are a heroic lot as more people than expected braved the extremely dubious weather on Saturday afternoon and came to the picnic on Hampstead Heath. The clouds looked ominous and we did have to endure a few spells of drizzle, but in the best British tradition we stood firm. Rugs […]
It’s the summer. At least legally. And it’s been a while since the excitement of Whampgather III. So, I thought that for the next installment of hyperlocal get togethers we should have a picnic. If you’re relatively new to the whole #whamp thing, whampgather is the local tweet-up (although non-tweeters are welcome). We’ve had around […]
Had we been rumbled? An enormous cake appeared that looked at first glance to be made almost entirely of cream. We hadn’t ordered this. It wasn’t anyone’s birthday. Yet here was a cake and our lively Italian waiter who seemed to be managing the whole place by himself told us it was on the house. […]
Congratulations to @flyperson (above), who may well have been the first person to bring one of the new Boris bikes into West Hampstead and is certainly the first to provide unphotoshopped evidence (compare and contrast with this from @garymc!). We are of course too far out of central London to have our own docking stations here […]
Bar 77 was a West Hampstead institution. I was one of many sad people when the owners called it a day. What came in its place was Cini. No-one knew how to pronounce it and it seemed no-one wanted to eat there. I was among many who didn’t care at all when it finally closed its doors. […]
Whatever the eventual outcome of the election, it is unlikely to remove the need for organisations like The Winchester Project – the charity that #whampers have been supporting in 2010. Back in late March, I posted director Paul Perkins‘ appeal for Admin & Support help. Now, Paul is back with a new request – this […]
The early indications when I arrived at the Hampstead & Kilburn count were that it was going to be close. It was too soon to tell quite how close. 180 counters split between H&K and Holborn & St Pancras first had to verify the ballot papers. This means checking that the number of votes in […]
As we watch David Cameron give his thank you speech having delivered a 22,000 majority in Witney, the situation in Hampstead & Kilburn is looking close and people are slightly tense. There are a few issues with ballots that have wrongly ended up in Brent, there’s an issue with the constituency map up on the […]
It’s 12.40am. The green room (which has purple tablecloths) is buzzy. Lots of rosettes everywhere – yellow, blue, red, green, and others. There’s a large TV showing the BBC coverage and another that seems to flit between ITV and Sky. I’m parked on a table with @camdenvotes and two young (with a small “y”) Conservatives […]
So, here we are at last. Election day in Hampstead & Kilburn. It’s been fun covering the campaign in my own small way over the past few weeks, but very soon all the bickering, sniping, politicking and – dear god – leafleting will be over. I have tried to remain impartial. Indeed, I only finally […]
After my first interview with Tamsin Omond before the election kicked off, we agreed we’d speak closer to voting day to see whether her ideas had resonated with Hampstead and Kilburn constituents, whether she had a cliché’s chance in hell of becoming an MP, and whether that confident manner would be battered and bruised by […]
Ed Fordham is sporting his golden Liberal Democrat rosette when we meet at the café that overlooks the swimming pool at Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre. They’ve run out of his normal almond croissants and he has to change to a chocolate one. “Is that a bad sign?” he asks. “Fordham in fourth-place shock!” He has […]
Is Chris Philp in Bank Holiday mode, or is this his Kilburn gear? The usually casually besuited Conservative PPC for Hampstead & Kilburn is wearing a grey fleece, jeans and some snazzy trainers as he chats to a supporter on the Kilburn High Road, while the wind does its best to deliver a pile of […]
[Ed:LoveFood is now an upstairs café and the restaurant has closed] If you love food in the sense that you enjoy it in large quantities, then LoveFood’s restaurant will not disappoint. If you love food in the sense of enjoying quality ingredients cooked exquisitely, then modify your expectations slightly, but don’t throw them out of the […]
Sadly, I missed all the excitement of Gordon Brown’s hardcore day of touring London seats, including our very own Hampstead & Kilburn. Disappointed to have been unable to cover this for you, I’ve asked the very partial (but also the very present) Mike Katz, local Labour activist and council candidate for Camden’s Kilburn ward to write a […]
Just three short months after his last visit to West Hampstead, Mayor of London Boris Johnson was back in West Hampstead with a gaggle of local Conservatives around him including of course Chris Philp. Boris wandered up West End Lane, before ducking into The Wet Fish Café much to owner André‘s surprise (although they didn’t […]
It’s Tuesday morning in Labour’s rather basic campaign office on the Kilburn High Road. Glenda is discussing campaign strategy amid piles of envelopes waiting to be delivered. A large Hampstead & Highgate peace banner hangs from the ceiling. I wonder how Kilburnites feel about that as I wait. Over a coffee in the back room, […]
OK, it’s a bit outside the hood, but I don’t like refusing invitations, and it’s only a quick 187 bus ride from West Hampstead. Thanks to @w9maidavale aka Lord Elgin for this write-up. Dodgy photo is all down to me. There are a lot of hungry people in W9 but not many places to eat […]
Another Thursday, another election debate. But who needs Brown, Cameron and Clegg when you have five of the eight parliamentary candidates for Hampstead & Kilburn to listen to. The London Jewish Cultural Centre played host to this Ham & High hustings and the room soon filled up. To capture the mood of hustings, read Sarah’s […]
Huge thanks to @Wild_Sarah for this excellent report on Tuesday night’s hustings. It was standing room only at last night’s Hampstead & Kilburn hustings in West Hampstead library, and a feisty crowd for our six keen candidates to impress. Cries of ‘Fix the mike’ and ‘Who are you? We can’t see you at the back,’ […]
Last night saw an experiment in West Hampstead. West End Lane Books threw its doors open from 9 to 10pm to @WHampstead twitter followers (and a few others!). There was wine, there was chat, there was 15 percent off everything. A dozen or so #whampers decided that the election debate on TV wasn’t enough of […]
As many readers will know, the whamp community is supporting local charity The Winchester Project this year under the banner of #whampforgood. Already, many of you have helped out in lots of different ways, whether by volunteering at the recent open evening, producing films (more of that later), or giving money at some of our […]
Last Thursday’s whampgather went down a storm. Around 50 guys and girls turned up to The Gardens bar over the course of the evening. For the first time, we went all exclusive with private room hire. It seemed to work well and much mingling ensued as @DJStoney kept the music flowing. A large screen showed […]
The words tumble out, punctuated by nervous giggles. Tamsin Omond, independent parliamentary candidate for Hampstead & Kilburn and mildly notorious climate change activist, drinks her cappuccino. She refers frequently to a notebook that clearly contains the campaign strategy for her one-woman party, The Commons. She has a lot of things she wants to say, lots […]
Where and when is it? We have exclusive hire of the downstairs (as in basement) room in The Gardens (188 Broadhurst Gdns, next to The Gallery). It’s a good sized room with its own private bar. Should work perfectly. It’s on March 11th, starting at 7.30pm and going on until around midnight. There are usually a […]
On Thursday evening, newly announced parliamentary candidate Tamsin Omond held a launch party for her campaign. Cub reporter @Moyasarner, who knows Tamsin, went along and reported back for West Hampstead Life. “Some 40 people gathered in the Swiss Cottage Community Centre on Thursday night for the launch of an election campaign that aims to change the […]
Transport, Tesco, important recycling news, the library and schools. It can only have been a West Hampstead area forum. #Whamper @Marciamac31 went along to the meeting last Tuesday and reports back “Unfortunately, nothing new on the tube closures: Keith Moffitt, council leader, said they will ‘keep plugging away’ at TfL, particularly to try to prevent several […]
We have another candidate in the forthcoming election. Bona fide local Tamsin Omond is joining Glenda (Lab), Chris (Con), Ed (LD), and Bea (Green). Tamsin tells us on her website that we don’t know her. But actually we’ve probably seen her on TV. She keeps getting in trouble for doing activist things. Someone young and […]
[Ed: This restaurant closed in early 2012] Arriving in a a busy restaurant raises expectations. Attractive lighting glints off the metallic menus and bounces off the exposed brick pillars. First impressions are good and enhanced by the meaty aromas wafting through the restaurant. This is, after all, a steak restaurant. The menu however has ample […]
The Small Business Network is a group of small businesses and self-employed people who meet on the first Tuesday of the month at LoveFood in West Hampstead (and the third Monday of the month at Sable D’Or in Muswell Hill). @Marciamac31 – long-time resident, SBN member, and new tweeter – went along on Feb 2nd and reported back […]
Anyone interested in all things #whamp was pulled in three directions on Monday. At one end of town there was an anti-Tesco group meeting in Walnut. A little further down West End Lane, many #whampers were tucking in to some lovely food and wine at The Wet Fish Café, and raising money for #whampforgood cause […]
Last night saw 40 people, including quite a few #whampers, back at The Wet Fish Café for the second supper club. This time there was a Sicilian twist to the gastronomic experience, but a very local twist to the evening overall as we raised money for #whampforgood cause The Winch. For a review of the […]
Thanks to Mark (@DJStoney) for this write-up of launch night at Belsize Park Giraffe “As a fan of the Tootsies American style restaurant that occupied the site, I was dubious about Giraffe taking over. After all, the first ever Giraffe (of 40 UK branches) is exactly 5 minutes walk away. However, the advantageous large format […]
It was great to see some new faces at #whamplunch today. Alongside #whamp regulars @DJStoney and @mayfield22, we welcomed @Ghoul_of_London who hadn’t been put off by his experience at Le Petit Coin, @kerrypolka and @Frangelina as well as non-tweeting Marcia – a long-time West Hampstead resident – who used to be an active member of the now […]
(NB: Le Petit Coin has now closed) Game theory is a strange way to start any meal. Perhaps if you were at the Fat Duck you might expect a soupçon of deconstrutivist philosophy to accompany a deconstructed soup, but at a small neighbourhood French restaurant I generally expect bread and butter to be the opening […]
Family-friendly world food restaurant chain Giraffe is opening in Belsize Park (taking over the old Tootsies). Very kindly, it’s given me 3 invitations for dinner for two on Thursday Jan 28th – opening week. “How do i get my hands on these invitations?” I hear you ask. “Simple”, I reply, “but you’re going to have […]
Amid all the talk of ungritted roads, broken bones, and minor car accidents, a blond whirlwind struck West Hampstead on Friday morning. Tory PPC Chris Philp had invited Mayor of London Boris Johnson to come and visit the neighbourhood ostensibly to have a “coffee and a chat” with locals about some of the issues that […]
Back in October, when @WHampstead had already been around for a good few months, it seemed like a good idea to take some of your messages and photos and aggregate them into a weekly round-up of the week’s whampevents. Encouraged by some excitement that week, Digest 1 went to press on October 11, the week […]
Puzzle time A change for this special Christmas edition of Digest. Rather than regurgitate everyone’s tweets about Monday’s snow or Friday’s over-eating, Digest is following in the best tradition of Christmas publishing and giving you a crossword! You can either download a printable version, which might be easier, or the clues and grid are below. […]
