There were two unconnected fires – one in a flat in Greencroft Gardens on Thursday, and one above Hana on West End Lane/Cannon Hill on Saturday. No-one was injured in the first, no further details on the second, except that Hana will be closed for a few days.
Fire crews put on breathing apparatus to go in to flat above Hana via Ian Cohen
Election news
Camden is predicting the Hampstead & Kilburn result won’t be before 4am on Friday morning
West Hampstead Life will be at the count – if you can stay awake, do keep me company via Twitter!
Justice secretary Chris Grayling MP, standing in for Grant Shapps at a JW3 event, caused some surprise by suggesting that Hampstead & Kilburn was no longer a target seat hence no billboards this year. Local Tories quickly leapt to respin this as a localised spending decision.
Hampstead & Kilburn candidates featured on BBC London News (not on iPlayer at the moment sadly).
The Guardian headed to Sumatra Road – possibly the most canvassed street in Britain (it claimed, tongue fairly firmly in cheek).
Books, booze and bargains… WHampbooks is back this Wednesday. 20% off everything, free wine, and (apparently) witty repartee from 7.30pm.
In a glut of Wednesday socialising, Whampsocial returns on Wednesday too! This Wednesday it will be at The Alliance. Look out for more details on Monday.
The existing Liddell Road businesses have been given until the end of the month to quit the site before building work starts on the school/flats/commercial space.
Local marathon runners gritted their teeth on Sunday. Did anyone local best Mark Townsend’s 2h59? No doubt at all that no-one has run more marathons over the past year than Robert Young.
“Only in @WHampstead! Another use for toilet rolls: Impromptu coffee table, much to surprise of Waitrose delivery men!” via Nicolette Molnar
Got a great idea for a local public space? Enter this competition and win £300 to help make it happen.
Election news
The Guardian’s Dave Hill looked at H&K and wondered whether private renters might play a bigger role than the “mansion” dwellers in determining the outcome.
The FT meanwhile had a slightly different, though well-balanced, take on the constituency.
The BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme spoke to undecided voters about Hampstead & Kilburn (ff to 32’04” if you nothing about the general election, and to 37’18” for the discussion. Bonus points for spotting the deliberate mistake at the very end).
The application for the Farmers’ Market banner has been withdrawn.
There was a good turnout for the midweek NW6 Film Club screening of Force Majeure at The Tricycle.
Next Sunday, as part of the club’s 150th anniversary celebrations, former England captain Andrew Strauss will be at Hampstead Cricket Club unveiling a statue in honour of a a player who scored an incredible 485 runs… back in 1886. Excitement starts at noon (there’s music, and even a cricket match at 1pm).
The closure of Mamacita has led to a temporary pause in Whampsocial; but fear not… plans are afoot for a new look whampsocial starting early May. Watch this space.
Matchbox Theatre is our Culture Hub pick of the week, see what else made the cut.
I was an early sceptic. Korean French fusion? In West Hampstead? Really? It sounded pretty risky – the sort of thing that Kitchen Nightmares are made of. The reality, thank god, is astonishingly good. This is partly because The Petite Corée’s food isn’t really Korean-French fusion.
Jae, the deadpan chef, though Korean, has trained in European restaurants and his cooking is achingly classic Western European; but, and it’s a critical but, there’s a Korean twist to every dish that’s handled with both flair and subtlety. He even made me love kimchee (when I mentioned that I wasn’t normally a big fan of kimchee, he asked if I was being racist – see “deadpan” above). This is high class food presented in a pared-back casual restaurant (no jacket required) presided over by Yeon, who runs the front of house.
The restaurant launched very quietly at the start of the year, and took a few weeks to get going as word of mouth slowly spread. It may be the only restaurant in West Hampstead that hasn’t yet had a negative comment tweeted about it, which is impressive given the fickle nature of many local diners!
The menu is reassuringly short, and has already had one seasonal change, which is a promising start. The Petite Corée is not a cheap restaurant – it’s catapulted itself right up into the high price bracket for the area – but for food of this quality, that isn’t going to put too many people off (and it also does a more competitively priced lunch deal!). I loved the smoked swordfish starter and my guinea fowl main course – perhaps one of the least Korean dishes on the menu – was beautifully balanced. However, the slow-roast pork belly with “Korean BBQ” jus is already established as the restaurant’s signature dish and rightly survived the first menu change.
Now over to my fellow reviewers (apologies, our photos aren’t the best, we may have been enjoying the wine list too much – there are much better ones at this excellent review).
Jon
I’ve never raved so much about a radish. The humble root vegetable, garnished with a flavoursome black sesame and yoghurt dressing, was the unexpected star of the starters – although the smoked swordfish with wasabi and lime dressing deserves an honourable mention. For my main course I had the steak. This was served with galbi – a soy-based Korean sauce, expertly rendered, which distinguished the dish from the rest of the NW6 rib-eye pack. The dollop of mashed potato beside it was the evening’s biggest triumph, however. I just about had room for an ice cream at the end. This is a friendly little eaterie with idiosyncratic, well-prepared food at a fair price. I’ll be back, especially during radish season.
“I’ve never raved so much about a radish”
Nicky
The Petite Corée had a lot to live up to, having built up a steady stream of glowing reviews on Twitter and the WHL Forum. And it didn’t disappoint. We shared six starters between us, which was probably a good idea as we each got to taste everything without anyone suffering food envy. Highlights included mandu – pork dumplings drizzled with a deliciously sweet and sticky balsamic sauce, and a radish salad that was as good to look at as it was to eat. Each dish was a nicely-balanced combination of classic European and Korean cuisine, but without ever straying into gimmicky “fusion” territory. Special mention has to go to the mashed potato (I was gluttonous enough to steal a forkful from Tom), which in true French style tasted like it had been whipped with about 80% butter. Believe the hype: The Petite Corée is a great new neighbourhood restaurant.
Arancini with kimchee flavoured rice and mozzarella
James
In refreshingly minimalist decor, Petite Corée was a delightful dinner. Every dish was an inventive combination of simple ingredients that was great fun to try. I liked the simple uncluttered menu and as there were six of us we were all able to check out most of it. As a big Korean food fanatic, I was particularly pleased with the kimchee, although it was prepared and served in a less-traditional way: kimchee sauce on ‘un-kimcheed’ cabbage. Still, the result was gorgeous and gave me the satisfying kimchee kick that I’m addicted to. My pork belly main was sold as a korean BBQ dish. Whether it was Korean or not, it was lovely. What a gorgeous little restaurant, I couldn’t fault it to be honest and I can’t wait to go back.
Tom
I was impressed on my first visit to Petite Corée a few months ago, but this was on another level. Every single plate chef served up featured a collage of fascinating, powerful, yet nicely-nuanced flavours, with well-considered combinations and really delightful vegetables. And that mashed potato – divine! The starters were addictive and varied; my favourite was (predictably!) potato and rice gnocchi with wild garlic leaves, Parmesan and Korean chilli sauce. Balance was offered via a rather stunning radish salad, with enticing colours and a splendid bitter twist. My gurnard with rainbow chard and a spicy fish jus was delicious; clever use of spices adding waves of flavour whilst not overpowering the fish. Also served were eringi mushrooms, which I now know are also known as king trumpet or French horn mushrooms (among other things) – how marvellous! Great service and a very special chef – not surprised this restaurant is making a few local headlines.
Guinea fowl with asparagus
Laura
I had walked past Le Petit Corée and glanced at the intriguing menu several times, so I was looking forward to giving it a try though not entirely sure what to expect. Would a French-Korean mash up work? In short, yes. All of the starters were excellent, particularly the pork dumplings and the swordfish, both of which had an invisible touch of Korea, providing a kick without overwhelming the delicate flavours. My sea bass main was beautifully cooked and the miso butter dressing worked really well. The only negative was a few small bones left in the fillet, which caught me by surprise. The sesame cream caramel to end was delicious, I’ll be goin’ back for more of that! Great service and a friendly atmosphere ensured a good time was had by all. I expect we’ll all be returning for at least one more night.
TfL has shelved its plans to axe the 13 bus route and extend the 139 to Golders Green. Every party seems to be claiming it was their campaign wot done it; TfL simply says that the consultation overlapped with the election so it’s stopped it.
There was a tragic road accident on Thursday when a man apparently had a heart attack, crashed his car into a lamppost by the Priory Tavern on Belsize Road and died. His son, also in the car, escaped unhurt.
Matt Ogston started his 130 mile “journey to find acceptance“, in support of his partner Naz Mahmood who died last year.
Former Eurovision singer Ronnie Carroll remains on the Hampstead & Kilburn ballot sheet, despite dying last week.
The second large H&K hustings had a good turnout but the candidates weren’t able to get through too many audience questions One man was very angry about Foxtons.
According to the CNJ, the majority of the money being gambled on H&K is going on the Conservatives, though apparently there’s also been a £3,000 single bet on Labour to win.
The former scooter showroom by Fortune Green is beng replaced by The Skiwear Service. Much was made on Twitter of its ability to kit out nannies for the slopes.
Property News asked for your view on the mansion tax, and discussed the state of the rental market in West Hampstead.
DJ and local resident Sara Cox gave Mill Lane’s Beauty Blossom a great plug in Saturday’s Daily Express.
The Turkish restaurant replacing La Smorfia will apparently be called N Fez, and will open in June.
Hampstead Cricket Club’s women’s team is recruiting, with two Tuesday taster sessions coming up.
The death of Dr Naz Mahmood last year shocked the West Hampstead community, and as the details emerged around his death, that shock and sadness only grew deeper. On Saturday, Naz’s partner, Matthew Ogston, begins a 130 mile walk in his memory at the cemetery on Fortune Green Road and everyone in West Hampstead is invited to see him off. Matt’s aim is to raise awareness of the issues that ultimately led to Naz passing away, and to raise money to help set up the support networks that could help prevent the same situation happening again.
Naz died after he came out to his family, who rejected his sexuality. There is no better explanation of the story than the extremely moving article in The Guardian last month. It was a piece that took months to write as Matt, who still lives in West Hampstead, struggled to begin to come to terms with what happened. I urge you to read it.
Matt has now set up the Naz & Matt Foundation, a charity that aims to raise awareness of the devastating impact of homophobia within communities that are heavily influenced by religion; specifically he hopes that its work may prevent another young person feeling that the only way forward is to take their own life. Matt writes:
To raise awareness of these issues and to help fund a range of special projects and initiatives with the aim of changing attitudes and increasing acceptance of gay, lesbian and trans young people born into religious families, and to offer support to LGBTQI individuals affected by the issue, I will doing a 130 mile sponsored journey, mostly walked, from London to Birmingham.
“The Journey to Find Acceptance” will be spread over eight days, starting on the 18th of April. I will be joined by friends on the journey, and I am inviting members of the public to join with me to walk part of the route, to help me ‘carry a message of love and acceptance along the way’.
Many of you will have heard or read about Matt asking our parliamentary candidates what they would do to stop religiously-driven homophobia at the recent hustings. It was an emotional moment that cut through talk of mansion tax and public services and reminded us all of what it is to be human; to love and to be loved.
You can be a part of this, and show your support for Matt and this cause.
The walk starts at Hampstead Cemetery on Fortune Green Road, where a bench in memory of Naz was recently installed. Matt wants as many people as possible to turn up (“dress fabulous”). The throng will assemble from 10am and the walk itself begins at 11. By all means join in the walk, but even if you can just turn up to send Matt on his way that would be a huge boost for him.
Over the years that I’ve been running West Hampstead Life, I’m always amazed at how our community rallies around people who need us at the most challenging times of their lives, whoever they are and whatever they need. We saw it after the terrible accident on West End Lane a couple of years ago, lets see it again on Saturday.
It’s Virgie’s 81st birthday, and she gathers together her friends and family for a celebration, and an important announcement. Virgie intends to kill herself. The play follows the reaction to Virgie’s declaration and explores how the choices we make can change our lives forever.
Virgie is a woman who has always been torn between her art and motherhood, and it becomes apparent that her dedication as an artist has severely compromised her relationship with her children Haydn and Orin, who are, as adults, scarred by her neglect. Virgie’s sister Shirley, and friends Tom and Sonia, make up the rest of the party, all coming to terms with Virgie’s announcement, trying, and failing, not to give in to the absurdity of it all.
Marty Cruickshank as Virgie (Photo: Steve Tanner)
None of the characters are particularly likeable, they are all self-involved and thoughtless, but in that they are relatable and frequently very funny. Tom the actor, and his long suffering wife Sonia, provide a lot of the comic relief, as two people more or less tolerating each others’ eccentricities. It’s hard to tell if Virgie really wants to die, is succumbing to madness, or if this is all some play for attention, but ultimately it is the question of control over one’s own existence, and of dealing with loss, which the play forces us to address. While this is a comedy, and I frequently laughed out loud, it is also a moving tale of family and friendships, and the lengths we will go to in order to find a sense of normality in the chaos.
Rachel Bell, as Shirley, the officious younger sister, steals the show in a really well written part, just the right amount of self involvement, tempered with pathos and played with the perfect level of self awareness. She has some great lines and delivers them with total relish, you can’t help but warm to her despite her apparent cold heartedness, which, as the play develops, we learn is really just her mode of survival.
Haydn, Virgie’s daughter, is believable, real, less a caricature than the others, and genuinely seems somewhat lost. Veronica Roberts has a lovely subtlety in her performance, we see glimpses of the rage burning within, but this is someone who has learned to swallow her pain, leaving her unable to connect intimately with others. Her sense of daughterly duty is something many will relate to, doing the right thing no matter how much it costs her personally. Her interaction with Roy, the poor cabbie who finds himself inadvertently caught up in the drama, is a real highlight.
The one misstep is the character of Miranda, a former student of Virgie, who appears in the final scene, to provide a new perspective on the story we’ve been fed piece by piece throughout the play. Unfortunately her wide-eyed youthful exuberance jars with the ageing melancholia of the other characters, whom we have been investing in from the start. It’s an interesting proposition, that we would open up and confide in a relative stranger, while hiding truths from our nearest and dearest, but I found Miranda’s complete lack of tact and diplomacy wildly irritating and so in the end the message was somewhat lost on me. But perhaps that’s the point.
Set and Costume Designer Michael Taylor has done a fantastic job of bringing a flavour of the Essex coast to North West London, completely transforming the stage at the Tricycle, so the action is thrust into the horseshoe auditorium. Virgie’s home feels lived in but isolated, windswept, with autumn creeping around the door.
Given the uncomfortable and dark subject of suicide, it takes a while for the audience to really get into the comedy of the piece. But this is a well-directed ensemble, with several strong performances, finding the humour in tragedy, without playing for laughs unless it is appropriate. A few choice nods to the Electra myth work really well without being heavy handed and I found myself laughing in recognition at the pain and pathos of life and its inevitable end.
After Electra is at the Tricycle Theatre until 2 May 2015.
Tulip and her Labour supporters disrupted a BoJo walkabout with hilarious photo consequences… not least the complete lack of interest from the people sitting on the bench
Lib Dem candidate Maajid Nawaz took the heat after the Daily Mail ran video footage of his stag night, during which he received two private lap dances. Maajid has stressed his feminist credentials in the past.
There were two additions to the final slate of candidates for Hampstead & Kilburn: Carroll the Eurovisionary (Ind) and Robin Ellison (U Party).
Comedy legend Arthur Smith plays The Good Ship this Monday and is our Culture Hub pick of the week. See what else made the cut.
After Electra opened at the Tricycle Theatre last night. We sat down with the director (and acclaimed actor) Sam West to find out more about the play and his take on Kilburn.
The full cast of After Electra. (Photo: Steve Tanner)
The play is called After Electra, should we expect a Greek Tragedy?
No, you should expect a black comedy, inspired by a Greek Myth but certainly not one you need to know anything about Greek drama to enjoy. The play is about an 81 year old artist called Vergie, who calls together her daughter and best friends on her birthday and announces she’s going to kill herself and they argue and try and stop her. It is very funny! It’s mostly about the difficulty of balancing work and children. In the original story, the Electra Myth, Electra and her brother Orestes kill their mother Clytemnestra, that doesn’t happen in this play, it’s mostly a comedy about what to do when you want to kill your mum!
We’ve all been there…
We’ve all had those feelings! And the Greeks put on plays about it so you didn’t go out and kill your mum. April De Angelis, the writer, has very carefully and cleverly written it about a woman who is a very accomplished artist and feels a calling towards her art, more than she does towards her children. So it’s a lot about what you do when you feel like that really, because I think one of April’s points is that men, on the whole, don’t get pilloried when they go off and excel in business and neglect their children and women, if they do that, get put on the front pages. They’re expected to have this bottomless well of unselfish motherhood, and the play is about what happens if you find that you don’t have that.
The play features several strong female roles and a generally older cast…
Yes, it was written in response to a request from Plymouth Theatre Royal, where it started, as a way of improving the situation about the lack of decent roles for older women. Because we have a lot of very good older actors who aren’t getting the parts… there are fewer meaty roles. It’s a cast of eight, only one of whom is under 30, and although the leading character is 81, there are very good parts for people in their 60s and 70s.
After a successful run in Plymouth, you’re bringing the play to London. How did the transfer to the Tricycle Theatre come about?
Yes, it’s a Plymouth production and the Tricycle decided that they wanted to pay for it to come to London so, although we’ve been working in tandem with them, it’s not a co-production. We’re delighted that Plymouth work gets a chance to be seen in the capital because we’re all very proud of it and most of the company live in London. Because Plymouth is a local regional theatre, it’s important for it to go to a theatre which has a good feeling of constituency, a good feeling of localism, like the Tricycle does. Not all London theatres feel like the Tricycle, do they? Some of them feel like posh transfer houses, where you put on things for a small metropolitan audience. But the Tricycle, whenever I’ve been, has always felt like a theatre that is really in the heart of its community and I’m really pleased that we’re taking it there.
And has the transfer been a smooth one?
Yes, though we’ve had to cut a metre off the set! It fills the space quite well but the stage at the Tricycle is not quite as wide as the Drum in Plymouth. Because the Tricycle is a bit like an Elizabethan theatre, a sort of horseshoe, there are some really interesting angles from where to see the show, which I was very pleased about when we brought it in. It would have been boring to have to add a metre, that would have made everything take slightly longer, but in fact we’re sort of squeezing it like a box, so the pressure should get slightly bigger and the show should get slightly hotter and faster.
Have you performed at the Tricycle in the past? Are you familiar with Kilburn?
I’ve never performed there. I’ve rehearsed there and I’ve seen many things there. I rehearsed a Donmar production there about 6 years ago and was delighted to be going there every day for 5 weeks, but this is the first time I’ve put a show in. I live in North London and have friends in the area, so it’s a pretty easy journey for me. I’m very fond of Middle Eastern food, and we’ve been trying out the various Turkish and Lebanese restaurants in Kilburn, which has been really great.
So, why should locals come to the Tricycle and see the show?
Because it’s very funny and quite short! (Laughter) It’s a play for anyone who is a mother, or who has one. It can’t fail to teach you something about your mum, and if you’re a mum it can’t fail to teach you something about your children, and it is pretty funny, but will make you think a bit. It’s done by ten o’clock, so you can still go the pub afterwards!
After Electra is on at the Tricycle Theatre from 7 April to 2 May.
Just spotted the smartest dressed cat in West Hampstead via Lorna Russell
There’s a new bench in Hampstead cemetery in memory of Dr Nazim Mahmood who died last year. More importantly, you can support his partner Matt by coming to the cemetery on April 18th where a walk against religious intolerance of homosexuality kicks off.
One NW6 restaurant might be best avoided for a while.
A former La Brocca employee made the FT this week…. for her musical ability.
Cult classic Blade Runner: The Final Cut is our Culture Hub pick of the week, but if replicants aren’t your thing, there’s plenty of other highlights.
Someone else tries to answer that perennial question: Where IS Kilburn?
Paddy Power is applying for change of use to turn the retail unit next to Boots on Kilburn High Road (formerly a Barratt’s shoe shop) into a bookmakers.
St James’s church filled up fast as locals poured in for the West Hampstead Life hustings at the Sherriff Centre. US social and political commentator PJ O’Rourke was in the front row for a BBC Radio 4 documentary; Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis was a couple of rows further back – off-duty, though still tweeting; and a journalist from the Independent tried to ask me what I thought of Tulip. Meanwhile, the rest of the nave was chockablock with locals eager to hear what the five Hampstead & Kilburn candidates had to say.
Tulip Siddiq (Labour)Simon Marcus (Conservative)Maajid Nawaz (Liberal Democrat)Rebecca Johnson (Green)Magnus Nielsen (UKIP)
Then it was time for the questions. Most people were reasonably good about asking fairly succinct questions, though one or started to ramble. Why do people do that!? Topics ranged from the opening gotcha on TfL’s changes to the bus routes to housing to foreign policy and homophobia in religion. Listen to the whole glorious event below (apologies to Simon, we missed the opening couple of lines of his speech, but you can watch that on the video below – the audio quality on the video drops off later, so I’d recommend the audio version overall).
We’ll dive into more specific answers over the course of the week.
Photos courtesy of Eugene Regis (more photos here)
