Hotfoots it to Mayfair - Mayfair Times

CHARLOTTE DELLAL
Hotfoots it to Mayfair
2020 VISION
The future of the West End
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
Special report, p59
£3
October 10

Contents
36
26
Mayfair Times
Mayfair’s house magazine
now in its 23rd year
www.mayfairtimes.co.uk
www.mayfairpa.com
59
38 Cover story
The stars’ favourite shoe designer
Charlotte Dellal hits Maddox Street
Photo: Michael Robert Williams
14 Film
The May Fair hotel returns to its
roots with the Raindance Festival
26 West End wish list
The New West End Company’s
ambitious 2020 Vision
6 News
Embassy owner Mark Fuller on
saving London’s club industry
10 Events
Trafalgar Square celebrates African
culture – and sees in Diwali
12 Theatre
Do you dare enter Ghost Stories
this Halloween?
21 Art
Savile Row suits Hauser & Wirth
34 Food
Divia Cadbury knows good food –
and isn’t afraid to tell. Plus: chef
John Williams puts on The Ritz
42 Health & Beauty
Natural, organic skincare is coming
to a counter near you
33 Charity
How does a chartered surveyor
end up sailing the Indian Ocean?
59 Commercial
property special
The Mayfair Times commercial
property lunch brings together
some of the market’s major players
45 Mayfair PA
The latest party pics and highlights
from MayfairPA.com
49 Business
Spaghetti House celebrates 55
years of keeping it in the family
86 Property
Why small is marketable in Mayfair.
Plus: the Victorian courtesan’s pad
88 Interiors
Get cosy with Nina Campbell
98 Meanderings
Half a century behind bars in
Mayfair
7
21
Editor Selma Day
T 020 7259 1052
E selma@pubbiz.com
Art Sophie Bishop
Business Erik Brown
Events Lucy Brown
Fashion, Food & drink,
Health & beauty Selma Day
Theatre, Property, Interiors Nuala Calvi
Sub-editor Nuala Calvi
Designer Andy Lowe
Publisher & editorial director Erik Brown
T 020 7259 1053
E erik.brown@pubbiz.com
Publishing director Adrian Day
Advertisement director
Sam Bradshaw T 020 7259 1051
Advertisement manager
Katie Thomas T 020 7259 1059
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© Publishing Business Ltd 2010
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5

6
news
EMBASSY LONDON
A month
in Mayfair
Fuller urges venues to club together
MARK FULLER, owner of club Embassy
London in Old Burlington Street, has set up
The Association of London Nightclubs to look
at the future of an industry he believes could
be dying and to shake off its negative image.
“We’ve created the image of this amazing
life – the Lamborghinis and the Rolls-Royces
turning up, short-skirted girls swanning in
and footballers drinking Cristal champagne,”
says Fuller.
“But the world has changed. The era of
the so-called celebrity on Big Brother or I’m a
Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! has gone.”
So far, the association has around 45
members including clubs such as Aura,
Movida, Jalouse, Vendome and Chinawhite.
“I think we’ve made history,” says Fuller,
“because the nightclub owners have never
got together before – we’ve always despised
each other. So the association has brought a
business community together and we can
now move forward.”
The association will work closely with the
police and council to help clamp down on
problems such as the use of fraudulent credit
cards, under-age drinking and violence.
“If the police believe the clubs are doing
Bond Street’s ahead
NEW BOND STREET is the most expensive retail
location in Europe, according to a report by
Cushman & Wakefield.
Shop rents saw a 19.4 per cent increase in the
last 12 months, rising to around £527 per sq ft per
annum – higher than those on Paris’s Avenue des
OZWALD BOATENG
closed London Fashion
Week with a show at the
Odeon in Leicester Square
featuring 100 male
models, including Sam
Branson (right). The Savile
Row tailor also debuted
part of his forthcoming
film “A Man’s Story”.
something wrong, they can come and talk to
us before they take action,” says Fuller. “The
bottom line is that if we don’t fix it, then
they’ve got every right to close a club down.”
Joseph Ryan, of Aura on St James’s
Street, agrees: “Any way that we can assist
the council and the police in making the
West End after dark a safer environment for
Londoners and indeed tourists can only be a
good thing. It’s great to dispel the
typecasting – [the idea] that everyone behind
nightclubs is a gangster.”
Fuller also questions the role of club
MARK FULLER
Champs-Élysées – with Zone A (the front area with
exposture to the street) rents reaching £925 per sq ft.
Cushman & Wakefield’s head of central London
retail, Peter Mace, said: “New Bond Street remains
one of the most sought-after locations in the world
for luxury brands.”
Demand from firms to secure premises is easily
outstripping supply, driving rents higher, he added.
promoters. “It’s got to the point where
London nightclubs are working on the most
ridiculous business model I’ve ever come
across in my life,” he says. “They pay people
to come in, they pay promoters to bring
people to come in for free – and then give
away free drinks, which is complete lunacy.
“Commercially, it’s crap, but it’s also
eroding what we are offering. You are
devaluing the feeling of the red rope – how
can you be exclusive when you let anybody
through the door?”
Fuller hopes the association will help to
bring the fun back into clubs and, in turn,
attract more people to return to London. “To
do that, he says, “we need to offer value for
money and give people a great night out.
A couple of clubs have started doing
entertainment now, and I applaud that,
because if you’re paying £20 to get in, at
least you’re getting something for it.”
Fuller says nightclubs are very much a
part of London life, but that every act of
violence in the capital has a negative effect
on business. “Every carjacking story and
every ram raid in Bond Street makes one
person less keen to come to London at
night,” he says.
“That’s why the clubs need to work
together. We are the only ones who can do it
because, as far as the government and
council are concerned, we’re a forgotten
industry. But we probably employ a good
100,000 people and the infrastructure that
relies on our income is even bigger – security
teams, the booze companies, the chefs, the
cab companies, the buses, the tubes.
“And we’re in competition with a lot of
cities – Miami, New York, Paris, Berlin – so
we have to get this right.”
PRINCE CHARLES opened the
grounds of his London home to
the public for a garden party to
promote sustainability.
Vivienne Westwood (pictured)
was one of the celebrity
speakers at the event, which
was held at Clarence House,
Lancaster House and
Marlborough House.
Fawn over Fornasetti
CULT DESIGN BRAND Fornasetti has launched a
concept store in Selfridges, presenting the largest
collection of Fornasetti products ever assembled in one
place in the UK.
Some of Fornasetti’s most recognised imagery
across dozens of product lines, from crockery and
ceramic plates to more substantial furniture pieces, will
be showcased in the Selfridges Wonder Room concept
space until October 15.
Fornasetti fans can also discover the brand’s first
fragrance – Fornasetti Profumi Per La Casa – and
Best of British
scented candles, produced exclusively for Selfridges. JERMYN STREET was last month turned
into an English garden party to celebrate
The Art of Being British, an event hosted
by The Crown Estate and Jermyn Street
Association.
The road was transformed into a traffic-
Brave outfit
PHOTO: LES BROWN
free zone for the day, while local retailers
and restaurants showcased their
specialties. The Ritz chef John Williams
MODEL AND ELECTRONIC VIOLINIST Linzi brands, including Matthew Williamson, Julien
demonstrated how to dress a salmon,
Stoppard wore this Jasper Conran creation [right] Macdonald and Vivienne Westwood, are giving
Dukes Bar mixed Martinis and Fortnum &
for the launch of Fashion For The Brave, a major their support to the event, which is in aid of three Mason had an al fresco tea party.
fashion event that takes place at The Dorchester main charities: Household Cavalry Operational
Musicians from the Royal Academy of
on October 26.
Casualties Fund, Help for Heroes and ABF The
Music performed popular British classics
More than 50 fashion designers and fashion Soldiers Charity.
and Morgan cars were out on display.
ON THE MORNING of the
ninth anniversary of the
terrorist attacks in New York
City, Pennsylvania and at the
Pentagon, US Ambassador
to the Court of St James’s
and Mrs Susman placed a
wreath at a memorial in
Grosvenor Square honouring
British victims.
Artists’ model
A GROUP OF 14 contemporary artworks
from the collection of model Jerry Hall is to
be offered for sale by Sotheby’s on October
15-16.
The highlight of the collection is Lucian
Freud’s 1997 oil on canvas Eight Months
Gone, which depicts the reclining Ms Hall
eight months’ pregnant with her fourth child
TATA NAKA opened a pop-up boutique
at 33 Bruton Place for Vogue’s Fashion’s
Night Out, with special guest DJs
Queens of Noize. Other highlights of the
evening, which saw stores across
Mayfair hold special events, included a
cocktail party at the Emporio Armani
store in New Bond Street, attended by
Giorgio Armani, Claudia Schiffer and
Gwyneth Paltrow.
Gabriel in 1997 [below]. Andy Warhol’s
acrylic and silk-screen ink on canvas Dollar
Sign is another star of the collection. The
work is signed and dedicated “To Jerry” on
the overlap.
The sales, which coincide with Frieze Art
Fair, are estimated to fetch more than £1.5
million.
7

86
8
news
Flock to Savile Row
DOZENS OF SHEEP will graze in specially laid
pasture on Savile Row on October 11, as part of
Savile Row Field Day. The prestigious tailoring
location will be closed to traffic for the event, which is
in support of The Campaign For Wool, a coalition of
industry groups convened by The Prince of Wales to
educate consumers about the benefits of wool.
The sheep will be watched over by two farmers,
one dressed in an Anderson & Sheppard bespoke
suit created using Fox Brothers’ new West of
England cloth, produced from wool sourced from
Exmoor Horn sheep, and the other dressed by
Gieves & Hawkes in Dormeuil’s Made in England
Dormysport cloth.
As the sheep graze, visitors will be able to find
out about more about the qualities of wool and take
part in open-house events and tours of the Row’s
most famous tailoring houses.
News in brief
THE FORMER home of the In and
Out Club on Piccadilly is under
offer and a deal was imminent as
Mayfair Times went to press. The
Grade 1 listed Palladian mansion
dates from 1756 and is part of the
1.3 acre Piccadilly Estate – six
buildings in total – that has been
on the market for £150 million.
Property Week said the buyer is
thought to be Russian.
AN EXHIBITION of work by Irish
artist Guggi is taking place at the
John Rocha store, 15a Dover
Street, until November 25.
Fourteen examples of Guggi’s
paintings and works on paper that
feature contemporary and abstract
representations of bowls and other
vessels will be on show.
CLIVE CHRISTIAN – which
launched the world’s most
expensive perfume, No 1, back in
1999 – has released its first new
perfume in ten years. C for
Men and C for Women are
priced at £195 and
available from Fortnum &
Mason and The Roja Dove
Haute Parfumerie in Harrods.
TWENTY-THREE YEARS after
the legendary auction of the
Critical theories
AROUND 200 people turned up at the Mall Galleries
to hear four well-known critics give their thoughts on
works from this year’s Threadneedle Prize exhibition.
Matthew Collings, Bettany Hughes, Jeremy
Paxman and Jon Snow were each asked to pick their
favourite piece from the exhibition and explain what
they liked about it and why they chose it.
Paxman and Collings both chose the same work,
Clee Hill 2009 by husband and wife duo Boyd and
Evans. Hughes chose Tim Shaw’s Man on Fire
sculpture and Snow talked about Road Side by Paul
Cummings.
jewels of the Duchess of
Windsor – still the most
valuable single-owner
jewellery collection ever sold –
Sotheby’s is selling 20 pieces on
November 30. They are estimated
to fetch around £3 million.
MAYFAIR RESIDENT and handbag
designer Amishi is hosting an
exhibition and sale of her latest
collection of handbags and
jewellery on October 15 at the
Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane.
Call 020 7493 9775 or email
info@amishi.eu for details.
Illustration of style
THE LONDON College of Fashion and
model Carmen Dell’Orefice hosted the
launch of David Downton’s new book
Masters of Fashion Illustration. Guests at
the event, held in the Oliver Messel Suite
at the Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane,
included models Erin O’Connor [pictured
with Downton] and Marie Helvin.
The book documents the lives of
great 20th century fashion illustrators as
well as Downton’s own work, which
includes drawings of Paris haute couture
shows and contemporary icons.
MENSWEAR AND accessories
brand Simon Carter is celebrating
its 25th anniversary this year with
the launch of a limited-edition
collection of men’s watches,
cufflinks, bags, wallets and shirts –
all available from the store in
Shepherd Market.
WILLIAM & SON is celebrating a
decade on Mount Street this year.
The luxury goods store has
launched a niche range of
anniversary products that
combine traditional craftsmanship
with a modern twist.
JOHN LENNON (1940-1980) is to
be commemorated with an English
Heritage Blue Plaque at 34
Montague Square, the London flat
that was the first home he shared
with his second wife, Yoko Ono.
NEWS: Selma Day
selma@pubbiz.com

10
what’s on events
what’s on film
The Story of London
Various venues across London, runs until
October 10.
The Mayor’s festival celebrating London’s
history, with the theme of innovation and
the city’s future. Organisations and
venues taking part include the Linnean
Society of London and the Geological
Society (both Burlington House, Piccadilly,
W1), the Royal Institution (Albemarle
Street, W1), the Institute of Contemporary
Arts (The Mall, SW1) and Regent Street’s
Apple Store.
www.london.gov.uk/priorities/artculture/storyoflondon
TUESDAY 5
Trustees of Jaisalmer in Jeopardy
Bonham’s, New Bond Street, W1. 6.30pm
champagne reception, 7.15pm talk and
Q&A, tickets £45.
Talk by Indian MP and former UN Deputy
Secretary General Dr Shashi Tharoor,
introduced by artist MF Husain, followed
by private view of Indian and Islamic sale
lots, to raise money for the charity.
Info: 020 7352 4336.
www.jaisalmer-in-jeopardy.org
THURSDAY 7
The Annual Video Games Lecture
Princess Anne Theatre, BAFTA, 195
Piccadilly, W1. 6.30pm, tickets £7.50,
free to BAFTA members.
This year’s Annual Video Games Lecture,
in association with GAME, will be given by
Media Molecule, the studio behind the
BAFTA-winning LittleBigPlanet series.
Info: 020 7734 0022.
www.bafta.org
SUNDAY 10
Nigeria @ 50 in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square, WC2. 12pm-6pm.
Event commemorating Nigeria’s Golden
Jubilee, marking 50 years of
independence, with dancing, food and
drink, music, comedy and poetry.
www.tijanient.com
18th Raindance Film Festival
Apollo Piccadilly Circus, 19 Lower
Regent Street, SW1 and The May Fair
hotel, Stratton Street, W1. Runs until
October 10. See the Raindance website
for more details.
Independent film festival showcasing 77
features and more than 130 shorts,
including documentary, British, Japanese
and North American strands. There will
also be Q&As, live events and 99 Minute
Film Schools. Festival award-winners will
WEDNESDAY 13
Charbonnel et Walker and Miller
Harris Chocolates and Fragrance
Evening
Charbonnel et Walker, One The Royal
Arcade, 28 Old Bond Street, W1. 6.30pm
champagne reception, presentation 7pm.
An evening pairing English chocolates,
truffles and fragrances for a unique
sensory experience, in celebration of
Chocolate Week (October 11-17).
Info: 020 7491 0939.
chocolate-week.co.uk
www.charbonnel.co.uk
SATURDAY 16
Carving Masterclass
Claridge’s, Brook Street, W1. 11.30am,
£157.50 per person (including welcome
coffee and lunch).
Learn to carve meat, fish and poultry with
a Claridge’s carving expert.
Info: 020 7409 6307.
dining@claridges.co.uk
www.claridges.co.uk
THURSDAY 21
Neutrino – Is the Sun Still Shining?
The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21
Albemarle Street, W1. 7pm-8.30pm,
tickets £8, £6, £4 Ri members.
Professor Frank Close OBE talks about
neutrinos and the story of Nobel Prize
be announced at 5pm on October 10 at
the Apollo Piccadilly Circus, before the
closing film, Son of Babylon, Iraq’s
choice to represent the country at the
Oscars. The festival started on
September 29, but there are still plenty
of screenings and events left to catch.
Info: 0871 220 6000 (Apollo Cinema),
0207 287 3833 (Raindance).
www.raindance.co.uk
www.themayfairhotel.co.uk/film
www.apollocinemas.com
MARK ROMANEK’S
NEVER LET ME GO
SATURDAY 9
Amazing Africa
Trafalgar Square, WC2. 11am-7.30pm.
A celebration of African culture, with music and
dance, “Taste of Africa” food court and arts and
crafts stalls.
www.amazingafrica.co.uk
winner Ray Davis.
Info: 020 7409 2992.
www.rigb.org
FRIDAY 22
The 19th Century Photographic
Collections of the Royal Society
The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton Terrace,
SW1. 1pm-2pm, free.
Joanna Hopkins, Royal Society Centre for
History of Science, explores the Royal
Society’s collection of photographic
portraits of key scientists.
Info: 020 7451 2500.
royalsociety.org
SUNDAY 31
Diwali on the Square
Trafalgar Square, WC2. 2pm-7pm.
Celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, with
music and dance performances and Aarti
(songs of praise).
Info: 07712 177 703.
www.diwaliinlondon.com
SATURDAY 24
Nanny McPhee Double Bill
The May Fair, Stratton Street, W1.
Lunch from 12 noon, film starting
1.30pm, £25 including a two-course
lunch, one child under 12 eats for free
per paying adult. See both Nanny
McPhee (2005) and its sequel, Nanny
McPhee and the Big Bang (2010), at
the family film club.
Info: 020 7915 3892.
www.themayfairhotel.co.uk/film
WEDNESDAY 13
54th BFI London Film Festival
Venues including the BFI Southbank, the Curzon
Mayfair and the ICA Cinema. Runs until October
28. See the festival website for more details.
Opening with Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go
and closing with Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, this
year’s festival is screening 197 features and
112 shorts. Highlights include Darren
Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Mike Leigh’s Another
Year, Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who
Can Recall His Past Lives, Xavier Beauvois’s Of
Gods and Men and East is East sequel West is
West. Events such as screen talks,
masterclasses and panels are also on offer.
Info: 020 7928 3232 (booking).
www.bfi.org.uk/lff/
what’s on music
THURSDAY 7
Hendrix and Me
Handel House Museum, 25 Brook
Street, W1. 6.30-7.30pm and
repeated at 8-9pm, tickets £9, £5
students.
A combination of Hendrix covers
and music inspired by him as well
as original compositions. With
Adrian Osuwu and Candythief.
Info: 020 7495 1685, 020 7399
1953 (booking).
www.handelhouse.org
FRIDAY 8
Captain Red Eye and the
Hoods
The Pigalle Club, 215 Piccadilly,
W1. Doors 6.30pm, on stage 9pm,
£45 dinner and show, £10 show
standing.
Nine-piece swing band drawing
inspiration from the golden era of
Hollywood cinema.
Info: 0800 988 5470
(reservations), 0871 230 0010
(See Tickets).
www.vpmg.net/pigalle
SATURDAY 9
PP Arnold & Digby
Fairweather’s Half Dozen
The Pigalle Club, 215 Piccadilly,
W1. 6.30pm for dinner, show 9pm,
£55 dinner and show, £20 show
only.
PP Arnold joins Digby Fairweather
and his Half Dozen to perform her
favourite songs, ranging from soul
and jazz/funk to R&B and ballads.
Info: 0800 988 5470.
www.vpmg.net/pigalle
www.seetickets.com
WEDNESDAY 13
John Williams
Wigmore Hall, 36 Wigmore Street,
W1. 7.30pm, £30, £25, £20, £15.
Renowned guitarist John Williams
performs at the venue where he
made his professional debut in
1958.
Info: 020 7935 2141.
www.wigmore-hall.org.uk
SATURDAY 16
Nonsuch Singers: Immortal
Bach – in unusual company
St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly,
W1. 7.30pm, £15, £12
concessions.
The Nonsuch Singers perform a
programme including Bach, Schütz,
Pärt and Lukaszewski.
Info: 020 7381 0441.
www.st-james-piccadilly.org
www.nonsuchsingers.com
FRIDAY 22
Voskresenije
St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly,
W1. 7.30pm, £15, £13.
Chamber choir of eight soloists
from St Petersberg, with pianist
Gillian Spragg, performing songs
by Balakirev, plus a capella sacred
Russian music.
Info: 020 7381 0441.
www.st-james-piccadilly.org
EVENTS: Lucy Brown
lucy.brown@pubbiz.com

12
theatre
EVERY NIGHT AT THE
DUKE OF YORK’S,
NERVOUS THEATREGOERS
QUEUE FOR TICKETS TO
THE SHOW GHOST
STORIES. THEY
RE-EMERGE VISIBLY
SHAKEN – BUT UNWILLING
TO DIVULGE ITS SECRETS.
CO-WRITER ANDY NYMAN
SHEDS SOME LIGHT ON
HIS SHADOWY CREATION
Raising
spirits
When I exit the Duke of York’s Theatre, it is into a West End that
looks distinctly more menacing and freakish than usual: drunks
seem to sway down every street, the faces of strangers hold
inexplicably evil intent and the mundane sight of huddled homeless
figures in doorways makes me jump. It is as if my brain has been
programmed to be fearful.
Little wonder, then, that the co-creator of the show I have just
seen, Andy Nyman, is a master of mind control. As co-writer and
director for illusionist Derren Brown for more than ten years, Nyman
knows exactly how to take perfectly sane, sensible people and get
them cowering under their coats like little kids.
Not that kids are allowed into his production, Ghost Stories:
large signs outside the theatre warn off under-16s and those of a
nervous disposition. Even theatre critics admitted to sleeping with
the lights on after seeing it. So what exactly is going on in there?
“One of the treats of the experience is finding that out,” says
Nyman, gleefully, “because we ask no one to talk about what goes
on in Ghost Stories. It’s very hard to find out what it’s about.”
No doubt that’s part of creating the suspense – which builds
further as soon as you enter the theatre and witness it transformed
into a gloomy, apparently derelict place with police tape strewn
everywhere, flickering bulbs strung on wires and the disconcerting
sound of dripping water echoing throughout the building.
Without wanting to break the show’s code of silence, suffice it
to say that Nyman plays our guide to the supernatural – the
parapsychologist Professor Philip Goodman – who purports to give
us a lecture about the tall tales he has come across in his career.
From a lone nightwatchman patrolling a spooky old building to a
student on a the long drive home at night through a wood, each
account of a ghostly sighting is slickly re-enacted with the jumps in
all the right places – but it is the twist at the end of the show,
involving the professor himself, which really hits the panic button.
The latter appears to come out of the blue, but in hindsight is
carefully planted throughout the show – rather in the same way that
Derren Brown famously uses the power of suggestion to influence
people’s decisions or behaviour in TV programmes such as Mind
Control. Nyman, an actor by trade, was asked to help create a
show with Brown having himself practised the branch of magic
known as mentalism since 1999.
“Lots of what we do in the play was learnt through my years of
creating those shows, where you’re affecting an audience without
them knowing it,” says Nyman, “and linguistically that means some
quite interesting tricks. There are lots of moments in the play that
seem inconsequential that all stack up to have a certain meaning.
But it takes more than language – you need the right environment.”
The production makes clever use of different senses to build
fear; as well as the flickering bulbs and dripping sounds, strange
smells leak into the auditorium and the show opens with some
disturbing sound effects. “The sound design uses tones that are
disconcerting for an audience,” says Nyman. “There’s lots of
research about how certain low tones can even double you over if
played at the right frequency.”
Much of the play is surprisingly un-scary, however – which
makes the thrills, when they come, somehow more shocking.
“What’s very psychologically potent is the use of laughter to disarm
an audience – you create an atmosphere where they relax, and
then you hit them with a really big scare,” says Nyman. “Timing is
everything – it’s very musical, in a way. Misdirection is another
important skill – making sure people look at the thing you want
them to. That’s something that’s a big part of traditional conjuring.”
But much as one can analyse the show’s various components,
quite why a theatrical invention can be so terrifying is still a mystery.
“Fear is not an intellectual thing,” says Nyman. “You can
deconstruct it, but the actual response itself is very base. It just
takes over and reminds you that you’re helpless.”
Special Halloween performances of Ghost Stories take place at
7pm, 9.30pm and midnight on October 30. Tel: 0870 060 6623.
THEATRE: Nuala Calvi
nuala@pubbiz.com

14
film
AHEAD OF BEING THE
HOST HOTEL FOR THE
GLITZY, HIGH-PROFILE
BFI LONDON FILM
FESTIVAL, THE MAY FAIR
IS SUPPORTING UP-
AND-COMING TALENT
WITH THE EDGY, INDIE
RAINDANCE FILM
FESTIVAL. LUCY BROWN
TALKS TO RAINDANCE
FOUNDER ELLIOT
GROVE AND FINDS OUT
HOW THE HOTEL IS
BUILDING ON ITS
CINEMATIC HISTORY
Raindance founder Elliot Grove is an interesting guy. Born
to an Amish family outside Toronto, he ran off to art college
and graduated with a degree in cire perdue (lost-wax bronze
casting), worked with Henry Moore in the early 1970s, got into
film through painting sets at the BBC and eventually set up
film-training centre Raindance in 1992.
“In the early Nineties, I was back in London, and I had
fancied myself a property entrepreneur, buying and selling
houses in Mayfair,” says Grove. “I went spectacularly bust in
1991 and spent an entire year feeling sorry for myself. I went
back into film, but I had lost all my contacts. So I started
training courses hoping to meet people, which I did.”
He launched the Raindance Film Festival in 1993 to
showcase the work of some of the people who had come to
Raindance. Alumni include Christopher Nolan, David Yates,
Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn, while Edgar Wright was
Grove’s first intern. Raindance also launched the British
Independent Film Awards in 1998.
“Raindance is a great place to come and see the stars of
tomorrow,” says Grove. In the festival’s first year, it screened
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, starring a teenage actor called
Leonardo DiCaprio. “That’s the kind of person you’ll find at
Raindance, before they become a household name,” he says.
Supporting
role
“We’re really all about discovering.” Other Raindance festival
films have included Oldboy, Memento, The Blair Witch Project
and Pulp Fiction.
There’s a story behind the Raindance name – which bears
a certain similarity to the high-profile Sundance Film Festival
in Utah. “I chose the name Raindance because of the dance
you do to get your film made and, of course, because in
London it usually rains,” says Grove. “And that first year after
I made the announcement, the phone went in my office and it
was Robert Redford himself, saying, ‘Why are you stealing my
name?’ I tried to explain the dance bit and the rain bit, and
pleaded with him to allow me to leave him to the plethora of
talented film-makers in Britain and Europe – and the line went
dead.”
The Raindance Film Festival 2010 had 3,000 submissions.
“We sit and watch every single one and the ones that we think
are extreme films – extreme storytelling, extreme film-making
or extremely good – we pick,” says Grove. “By extreme, I
don’t mean extremely violent. I mean film-makers that are very
ABOVE: ELLIOT GROVE

16
film
good storytellers – that’s the number one criteria, the
storytelling ability – but they’re doing something extreme,
usually with topic or sometimes with film-making technique or
sometimes with both.”
This year, “of the 77 feature films and feature
documentaries we are showing, a staggering 69 are British
premieres,” says Grove, “and many are world premieres – I’ve
lost track of those.”
The programme includes a number of controversial
movies, including A Serbian Film, which is being shown at
Raindance as a private screening, and Bruce LaBruce’s LA
Zombie. Grove explains: “We’re under pressure from various
people not to show these different films for different reasons,
but we figured that, this year, given that the festival’s 18 years
old and the people that come to the festival are at least 18
years old, we figured that you should be able to decide
whether or not you want to see them.”
There are also strong musical connections. This year, Los
Angeles band The Airbourne Toxic Event are performing at the
opening night after-party, and Motorhead’s Lemmy is on the
festival jury. Other jury members include Charles Saatchi,
Julian Barratt of The Mighty Boosh and film critic and
historian Derek Malcolm.
Screenings and events are running at the Apollo Piccadilly
Circus and The May Fair hotel. Grove says: “The May Fair
hotel has this rock’n’roll tradition, and it seemed like a good
fit.” Hollywood impresarios the Danziger brothers owned the
hotel in the 1950s and, since its 2006 relaunch, The May Fair
has been drawing on its cinematic history, now working with
both Raindance and the BFI London Film Festival. It is the
54th BFI London Film Festival Official Hotel, following a
successful inaugural event last year, and is also a Gala
Sponsor for West is West, the sequel to East is East.
“It was always about going back to our roots of being
connected with everything sort of film and fashion and music
and so on,” explains global marketing manager Linda Plant.
“Hence our partnership with the British Film Institute, and then
taking that further and saying, you know, we don’t really just
want to be connected with these institutions, we want to
support institutions that nurture up-and-coming talent, and
the Raindance festival is very much about that.”
The May Fair has its own screening room, which seats
more than 200 people, and runs the May Fair Family Film
Club: a two-course lunch followed by a film. There will soon
be a film club for grown-ups too, launching on November 21
with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
And the hotel even makes its own movies. Plant explains:
“Through Raindance, we have what we call our film-maker in
residence, so that’s an opportunity for new and upcoming
talent to showcase their material – they’re going to make little
movies and skits of London and the hotel, and sometimes do
interviews.” These can then be uploaded to The May Fair’s
YouTube channel.
“It’s really exciting,” says Plant. “There’s a real vibrancy
going on in the hotel.”
The Raindance Film Festival runs until October 10. The 54th
BFI London Film Festival runs from October 13-28.
ABOVE: THE MAY FAIR HOTEL’S
CINEMA
ABOVE LEFT: A SCENE FROM DO
ELEPHANTS PRAY? SHOWING AT
THE FESTIVAL
PHOTO: STEVE NORRIS

Savile Row may be better known for well-cut suits than for
cutting-edge art, but that looks set to change with the opening
of Hauser & Wirth at number 23.
Occupying more than 15,000sq ft, the Eric Parry
development is Hauser & Wirth’s fourth gallery in the area and
its most ambitious yet.
One of the world’s leading contemporary galleries, the
Zurich-based dealership has had a strong Mayfair presence
since first opening on Piccadilly in 2003. Hauser & Wirth
Colnaghi launched on Old Bond Street in 2006, followed soon
after by the Outdoor Sculpture at Southwood Gardens, St
James’s Church.
“Without question, this is where the gallery is most rooted,”
says London director Gregor Muir. “Mayfair has always been an
important centre for what we do and I think it’s fair to say that
“It’s a major
Bourgeois
statement and
and a stunning,
museum-quality
show”
Gregor Muir
Suited to art
when Savile Row opens, Hauser & Wirth’s presence in Mayfair
will be very clear.”
Those in any doubt of the gallery’s ambitions should look no
further than the opening show at Savile Row, which is
dedicated to the grande dame of contemporary art, Louise
Bourgeois.
The exhibition brings together 70 fabric drawings made
between 2002 and 2008, plus four large-scale sculptures.
Curated by Germano Celant, the display has travelled from the
Fondazione Vedova, Venice and was the last project Bourgeois
worked on before passing away in June 2010, aged 98.
“It’s a major Bourgeois statement and and a stunning,
museum-quality show,” says Muir. “It’s going to be glorious
and, I think, quite uplifting to see.”
The plan post-Bourgeois is to show a rotating programme
of exhibitions by gallery artists such as Martin Creed, Roni
Horn, Paul McCarthy and Wilhelm Sasnal.
“Its going to be a balancing act between the two main
spaces,” says Muir. “We can’t begin to compete with ourselves,
so it’s a matter of spreading things out and pacing the shows
across the galleries.”
As for competing with the neighbours, Muir is of the belief
that what’s good for London is “generally acknowledged to be
useful to everyone”.
“The more major attractions London has, the better it is for
us all, and I hope this falls in to that category of being a major
attraction for visiting collectors, curators and artists,” he says.
“Mayfair is continuing to grow year in, year out in terms of
art and I think the arrival of this gallery will ultimately cement
Mayfair as an art destination.”
Louise Bourgeois: The Fabric Works runs from October 15-
December 18 at Hauser & Wirth, 23 Savile Row.
www.hauserwirth.com
SAVILE ROW IS
THE PERFECT FIT
FOR HAUSER &
WIRTH’S NEW
GALLERY SPACE,
DIRECTOR
GREGOR MUIR
TELLS SOPHIE
BISHOP
ABOVE: UNTITLED, LOUISE
BOURGEOIS, 2005
© LOUISE BOURGEOIS TRUST
COURTESY HAUSER & WIRTH
PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER BURKE
LEFT: UNTITLED, LOUISE
BOURGEOIS, 2007
© LOUISE BOURGEOIS TRUST
COURTESY HAUSER & WIRTH
PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER BURKE
21
art

22
art
Coles’s hot new space
SADIE COLES is launching a new contemporary art
gallery at 4 New Burlington Place. The 5,000 ft
showroom is Coles’s second gallery in the area and will
host a rotation of exhibitions to parallel the exciting
programme at 69 South Audley Street.
First up is a major exhibition of new sculpture by
Swiss artist Urs Fischer. Named after the 20th century
film director Douglas Kirk, the exhibition features a series
of chrome-steel boxes, which have been screen-printed
with hyperreal images of miscellaneous objects.
Urs Fischer: Douglas Kirk runs from October 6-
December 11 at Sadie Coles, 4 New Burlington Place.
Tel: 020 7493 8611.
RIGHT: URS FISCHER, LASSIE/PIZZA, 2010
© THE ARTIST, COURTESY SADIE COLES HQ, LONDON.
A world view
CHRIS BEETLES is branching into new territory, with its first
exhibition of international photography.
The exhibition brings together the works of 43
photographers in a unique survey of 20th century photography.
Works on show range from early prints by Eugene Atget,
Jacques-Henri Lartigue and Lewis Hine to Brian Duffy’s 1973
album-cover shot of David Bowie as Aladdin Sane and Irving
Penn’s iconic 1957 portrait of Pablo Picasso [left].
Eve Arnold, Angus McBean, Bill Brandt and David Bailey are
just some of the other names included.
The Photographers runs from October 13-30 at Chris Beetles,
8 & 10 Ryder Street. Tel: 020 7839 7551.
LEFT: ELLIOT ERWITT, NEW
YORK CITY, 1946
ART: Sophie Bishop
sophie@pubbiz.com

24
art
art events
Fair dealers
THE PAVILION OF ART & DESIGN (PAD) returns to Berkeley Square
from October 13-17.
This year’s fair brings together 50 leading international dealers in
the fields of modern art, design, decorative arts, photography and
tribal art.
Highlights include woodwork sculptures by Ai WeiWei at
Friedman Benda; a collaborative project by Zaha Hadid and fashion
designer Hussein Chalayan at Gabrielle Ammann; and paintings by
Auerbach, Miro, Picasso and Matisse at Simon Dickinson. Tickets
cost £20. Visit www.padlondon.net
RIGHT: MILES
ALDRIDGE,
3-D, 2010
© MILES ALDRIDGE
COURTESY OF HAMILTONS
GALLERY, LONDON
FAR RIGHT:
MARK ROTHKO,
UNTITLED, 1958
COURTESY OF GALERIE
VEDOVI, BELGIUM
UNTIL OCTOBER 30
A Moving Plan B - Chapter
Two
New works on paper, drawings
and sculpture by German artist
Thomas Scheibtz.
Sprüth Magers, 7A Grafton
Street. Tel: 020 7408 1613.
UNTIL OCTOBER 30
Jeanloup Sieff
A retrospective of Jeanloup
Sieff’s iconographic works from
the 1960sto the 1980s.
Hamiltons, 13 Carlos Place.
Tel: 020 7499 9493.
OCTOBER 5-30
Sculpture
Mixed exhibition of sculpture
including work by Skybo Carl
Andre, Peter Blake, Barry
Flanagan, Dan Flavin and Henry
Moore.
Waddington Galleries, 11 Cork
Street. Tel: 020 7851 2200.
OCTOBER 7-
NOVEMBER 4
Tom Wesselmann: Works
1958-20
An extensive exhibition of
drawings and paintings by Tom
Wesselmann, spanning four
decades of the American
artist’s career.
OCTOBER 13-
NOVEMBER 4
Lavery and the Glasgow
Boys
A touring exhibition of works by
Sir John Lavery and the
Glasgow boys group of
painters, including Edward
Arthur Walton and James
Paterson.
The Fine Art Society,
148 New Bond Street.
Tel: 020 7629 5116.
OCTOBER 14-
NOVEMBER 5
David Mach: Iconography
New coat hanger sculptures by
David Mach RA.
Opera Gallery, 134 New Bond
Street. Tel: 020 7491 2999.
UNTIL NOVEMBER 6
Albrecht Tubke. Made in
Italy
A selection of works taken from
German photographer Albrecht
Tubke’s latest series of fashion
led portraits.
Scuplting the future
CARL ANDRE, Frank Stella, William Turnbull and Peter Bake
are just some of the artists whose works feature in
Waddington Galleries’ mixed exhibition of sculpture.
The group exhibition brings together both British and
international sculpture and includes works by past masters
such as Henry Moore, Barry Flanagan and Fausto Melotti.
Sculpture runs from October 5-30 at Waddington Galleries,
11 Cork Street. Tel: 020 7851 2200.
LEFT: BILL WOODROW, ARMCHAIR AND WASHING MACHINE
WITH BOBO MASK, 1982
COURTESY WADDINGTON GALLERIES, LONDON. © THE ARTIST
James Hyman Gallery, 5 Savile
Row. Tel: 020 7494 3857.
OCTOBER 13-
NOVEMBER 8
Jessica Jackson Hutchins
Inaugural UK solo show for
American artist Jessica
Jackson Hutchins, presenting
large-scale sculptures, mono
prints and works on paper.
Timothy Taylor Gallery,
13 Carlos Place.
Tel: 020 7409 3344.
UNTIL NOVEMBER
20
Sold Out: American Pop
Art from the 1970s to the
1980s
Group Pop exhibition featuring
works by Andy Warhol, Robert
Rauschenberg, Tom
Wesselmann, Keith Haring,
Robert Longo and Frank Stellar.
Olyvia Fine Art, 17 Ryder
Street. Tel: 020 7925 2986.
UNTIL DECEMBER
12
Treasures from Budapest:
European Masterpieces
from Leonardo to Schiele
Over 200 works on loan from
the Museum of Fine Art,
Budapest. Artists include
Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael,
Rubens, Manet, Monet, Schiele,
Gauguin and Picasso.
Royal Academy, Burlington
House. Tel: 020 7300 8000.
Haunch of Venison,
6 Burlington Gardens.
Tel: 020 7495 5050.

26
retail
The
future
of the
West End
A report last month by industry magazine Drapers revealed
that Oxford Street outstrips its international counterparts in
Paris, Milan, New York and Tokyo when it comes to high-street
fashion. In a poll of 50,000 fashion professionals, nine out of
ten thought the street was best for edginess, affordability,
choice, designer collaborations and speed of translating
catwalk designs to the shop floor.
Over the past ten years, Oxford Street has seen a massive
transformation, with the arrival of international flagship brands
such as Nike, Gap and Uniqlo, and a £5 million makeover of
Oxford Circus, which culminated last year in the launch of
London’s first diagonal crossing.
The crossing, inspired by Shibuya crossing in Tokyo, was
part of a master plan by the New West End Company –
Europe’s largest Business Improvement District (BID) – when it
was set up ten years ago to drive forward London’s retail
heartland. The company worked alongside West End property
owners to facilitate the project and has worked closely with
Westminster City Council, the Mayor of London and Transport
THE NEW WEST END COMPANY’S
AMBITIOUS 2020 VISION
INCLUDES REJUVENATING THE
EAST END OF OXFORD STREET,
REDUCING TRAFFIC AND
BOOSTING SPACE FOR
PEDESTRIANS BY 50 PER CENT.
SELMA DAY REPORTS
for London on measures to improve pedestrian space and
reduce traffic on Oxford Street and Regent Street.
Other achievements include the regeneration of Marble
Arch; a crime-intelligence partnership resulting in a 61 per cent
reduction in smash-and-grab burglaries; introducing clearer
signage; providing a team of Red Caps to assist shoppers; and
a large-scale street-cleaning operation. In 2005, the company
launched the UK’s first VIP day – a traffic-free event, which has
seen retailers increase their sales by £500 million in five years.
“I think there’s been a noticeable impact on the streets of
the West End both in terms of operations and marketing
messages,” says Richard Dickinson, CEO of the New West End
Company. “All that would never have happened without the
New West End Company, because nobody was looking at it at
that micro level. We go out and are on the case day in, day out
– our Red Caps are constantly reporting things that go wrong
[to Westminster City Council].”
Having played a role in generating a retail spend of over
£5.6 billion a year in the West End over the past decade, the
“The retail
heartland is
coming out of
recession and
there is a lot
of investment
everywhere”
Richard Dickinson,
CEO of the
New West End
Company
BOND STREET WILL SEE MORE HIGH-PROFILE EVENTS
AND CATWALK SHOWS
New West End Company recently announced its 2020 Vision –
its ambitious plan for the next ten years. Revitalising the east
end of Oxford Street is high on the agenda and has already
been given a kick-start with the recent announcement that
Primark is to open an 85,000 sq ft store opposite the new
Crossrail Tottenham Court Road tube station.
A joint venture between Land Securities and Frogmore Real
Estate Partners, the development – Europe’s largest retail deal
in four years – is due to be completed by June next year. Along
with the Crossrail development, it will give a considerable uplift
to this end of Oxford Street, which is often considered to be
the poor relation.
“These are encouraging signs,” says Dickinson.
“Development is coming back and London is pretty buoyant,
as you can see with the Park House development – some
100,000 sq ft of retail space right in the heart of Mayfair [at the
west end of Oxford Street]. The retail heartland is coming out of
recession and there is a lot of investment everywhere. The
rents that are being achieved now in Oxford Street and Bond
Street are fantastic – they are at record levels.”
A recent report by Cushman & Wakefield revealing that New
Bond Street is now the most expensive retail location in Europe
(see News, page 6) is an indication that the luxury market is still
booming and is one the New West End Company is keen to
take advantage of. This summer saw the launch of London
Luxury, a grouping together of the West End’s luxury quarter
(Bond Street, Mount Street, Jermyn Street and Savile Row).
The aim is to target high net-worth tourists from around the
world – a market spending £1.1 billion a year – by offering
bespoke tours and super-exclusive shop-and-stay experiences.
“We’re also looking at an improvement programme for
Bond Street,” says Dickinson. “On an international basis, the
inside of the shops are fantastic, but the outside isn’t
competitive with places like Milan. Clearly the southern end –
Old Bond Street, with its high-end jewellers – is fine, but as you
come further north, we need a decent retail structure for that
area and we need the property owners on side for that.
“It’s about lifting the whole ambience of the street. Can we

28
retail
brand it better? Can we get better gateways? Can we get better
quality paving and value parking? Can we get fashion shows
going on on a regular basis in the street? Can we get more
flexibility on advertising?”
Of course, all that comes at a price and, at a time of savage
public-spending cuts, where is the money going to come from?
“We’ve got to find different ways of funding this,” says Dickinson.
“We can’t rely on council handouts because there won’t be many
of those. We’ve had encouraging signs from the property owners
that they do want to see change – it’s in their interests ultimately.
We’ve got some innovative ideas for allowing the private sector
more of a contribution and having more say in what goes on.
“And while the banks may still have problems, the criteria for
the West End is different. We’re hoping to build a small visitor
pavilion between John Lewis and House of Fraser and the
bankers are falling over themselves to lend us the money just
because of where it is. That’s what they’re all investing in – brand
presence – so it’s not just about the transaction of selling, it’s
about being on the street. It’s about London being a world city
and a retail centre and the importance of that to the economy.”
Reducing surface traffic is also a key priority for the New West
End Company – another ambitious plan considering that the two
new Crossrail stations on Oxford Street will increase capacity by
30 per cent. “Regent Street and Oxford Street are really suffering
and the general health of the West End is damaged by traffic,”
says Dickinson.
“We’ve already taken some steps and TfL have been very
good – they’ve taken out the number 15 bus, so that no longer
goes to Oxford Street. That’s probably about 15 buses an hour
that we’ve got rid of. So what we need is more of that. And Boris
has helped to a certain extent by bringing the bikes in. It’s a great
idea and a contribution to making the streets a bit less motorised.
But you need a change of mindset – the transport planners have
started with the traffic, but actually if you turn it round and think
about pedestrians, then traffic is incidental.”
The New West End Company plans to introduce “shopping
hours” by 2015, with 40 per cent less traffic between 10am and
4pm daily, and to provide 50 per cent more space for pedestrians
A view from Westminster
Councillor Brian Connell, cabinet member for business, enterprise and skills, on:
THE 2020 VISION
“The economic vitality of the West End is
something that we are absolutely
committed to and we endorse most of
what the New West End Company
aspires to achieve. There will be times
when they will want things that perhaps
we can’t agree on, but generally we’re on
the same side and we want the same
thing: a vibrant, economically driven
West End.”
PROMOTING THE WEST END
“Although businesses have generally had
a rough time, the West End has done a
lot better than it might have done –
partly because of the work the BIDs
(Business Improvement Districts) have
done. I chair the West End Marketing
Alliance, which brings together lots of
BIDs including the New West End
Company, businesses, property owners
and trade associations who represent
things like the theatres, major retailers
and the tourist industry. And that’s all
about promoting the West End.”
CROSSRAIL
“We are supportive of Crossrail, but there
is no doubt, as you can see on Oxford
Street at the moment, that it’s hugely
disruptive. You can’t do something as big
as Crossrail without it having a negative
impact in the short term – and we’re the
guys who have to find diversion routes
and deal with all the nitty gritty. We’d like
to put up a sign saying: “The West End is
still open for business.” It’s during
projects like this that our role is to remind
central government how important the
West End is. If that is hit by any punitive
measure – it could be business rates or
other taxes central government might
impose – we need to step forward and
say what the impact would be.”
THE PROPOSED DIAGONAL PEDESTRIAN
CROSSING AT TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD
THE OLYMPICS
“We want to make sure that the physical
infrastructure of the West End looks as
great as it can, particularly in the run-up
to the Olympics. In Mayfair you’ve got
some top-notch hotels, and during the
Olympics a lot of people are going to be
staying there, so one of the key priorities
is transport. Boris is making sure people
can get to and from the Olympic stadium
easily (special lanes will be introduced on
key roads to transport athletes and
officials to Olympic events). I also want to
make sure that as many people from
Westminster see the job opportunities
that exist on their doorstep.”
ENVIRONMENT
“I think we do a pretty good job of
keeping the greenery, things like trees
and hanging baskets. We will see more of
the stuff that Prince Charles is talking
about now [the Prince opened the
grounds of Clarence House last month to
promote sustainability]. In fact, we’ve just
given planning permission for some solar
panels on Clarence House – so if he can
do it, the rest of us can. I think we’ll have
more buildings becoming greener in time,
but hopefully in a way that protects their
heritage. We’ve also got an innovative
partnership with Grosvenor to invest in
the public realm.”
PLANNING AND LAND USE
“In terms of planning and land use, it’s
about finding the right balance so that
residents have their amenities protected.
The challenge is moderating the impact
of business and not losing what makes
the West End special – we’ve got a
residential community right in the heart of
a world city, but that’s what makes it
unique and we want to protect that. And
that’s why we’re a long-term bet.”

30
retail
“THE CROWN ESTATE SUPPORTS West
End business through its £750 million
revitalisation of Regent Street. We are
proud to be founder members of the New
West End Company, which brings
together property owners and retailers to
deliver the 21st century foremost
shopping area in the world.”
DAVID SHAW, Head of
Regent Street Portfolio,
The Crown Estate
“I WOULD LIKE THE WEST END to be an
inspirational, one-stop retail destination,
featuring a world-renowned environment
which gives customers the very best
shopping experience at the heart of the
greatest city in the world. With the
support of the New West End Company,
the West End will continue to be the
epicentre of the British high street, a
focal point for British fashion and an
attraction for shoppers from around the
world. Continued investment in attracting
strong brands and enhancing facilities
and transport will mean that the area
continues to stand out as one of the
REVITALISING OXFORD STREET
IS HIGH ON THE AGENDA
UK’s premier shopping destinations.
As the busiest shopping street in
Europe, Oxford Street attracts a fashionsavvy
customer who is always on the
lookout for the best trends. M&S is the
UK’s largest clothing retailer and with two
stores on Oxford Street we’re ideally
placed to anticipate future trends and
react accordingly, helping to meet the
needs of the 21 million customers who
come into our stores every week.”
STEVE ROWE, Director of
Retail at Marks & Spencer
“I AM FULLY SUPPORTIVE of initiatives
that keep the West End as a leading and
innovative retail destination. By 2020,
many shopping habits will have evolved
almost unrecognisably, and it is the task
of the retailers to make both the
customers’ experience and product
selection exciting and fresh.
Clearly, technology will play a key
role, but in my view, the flagship retail
by 2020, with a dedicated surface-transit system down Oxford
Street and Regent Street.
With the Olympic Games less than two years away, the shortterm
priority for New West End is to maximise the West End’s
potential in the run-up to and during the event. More than 15,000
international media and one million additional shoppers will visit
the West End in the summer of 2012, generating an additional
£100 million in spend.
“There will be lots of events around the Olympic jamboree,
which we are planning to latch onto,” says Dickinson. “The
Games are a huge catalytic opportunity for London, putting a
global spotlight on the capital. Making sure the West End is fit for
purpose is fundamental to our success.”
It may seem a hard call, but Dickinson is confident that the
New West End Company’s 2020 Vision is achievable. “New ways
of funding and inward investment are very important,” he says.
“We are pretty confident in the private sector’s ability to push this
agenda forward because of where London and the West End is
in relation to trends – and you’ve seen from the Drapers report
we’re pretty high on the fashion agenda. But it’s about convincing
our political masters to keep investing in the West End.”
environment that so many brands
showcase in the West End will always
need to have the wow factor to keep
people visiting this area.
Ease of transport, pedestrian access,
safe public spaces and the support of
aspirational luxury and cutting-edge
brands also all have a part in ensuring
London’s West End is the best
destination in the world for high-street
fashion.”
SIR PHILIP GREEN,
owner, Arcadia Group
“THE ARRIVAL OF CROSSRAIL into the
heart of the world’s premier shopping
district will deliver thousands more
shoppers every day. This and other major
transport upgrades will make London the
best-connected city in the world. Our
fantastic West End needs to be both
ready to satisfy increased demand and
ensure this jewel in London’s crown
retains its unique global appeal and
flourishes as a beacon for tourists,
shoppers and investors.”
BORIS JOHNSON,
Mayor of London

Dream boat
It’s the butt that gets it, apparently. The butt and the hands. Those
are the pressure points when you’re rowing two hours on, two hours
off, for 68 days. “White spirit on the hands is quite good,” Ollie
says, “and on the arrr … er … butt, as well,” he says, unsure
whether the Saxon word “arse” is polite enough for an interview.
“The sea is teeming with sharks and all sorts of fish, whales,
dolphins – we’ll see all of that,” he adds. “Apparently the wildlife is
amazing. I think we’ll be quite wary of the sharks. I don’t think we’ll
be swimming around for pleasure for very long...”
Ed chips in: “There is the need to clean barnacles off the base
of the boat so it’ll be whoever draws the short straw.”
Ollie – Oliver – is a 28-year-old chartered surveyor with Strutt &
Parker on Hill Street. His brother Ed is two years older and also a
surveyor, although these days he works as a headhunter.
Along with friends Captain James Kayll, a 28-year-old army
officer serving with The Light Dragoons, and 28-year-old CBRE
surveyor Tom Kelly, they’re in training for one of the most gruelling
adventures on earth – so tough that they will each lose two stone.
They’re planning to row across the Indian Ocean next April – a
total of 3,100 nautical miles. Their sponsor package states with an
odd exuberance: “Extreme fatigue, crippling sores, mental stresses,
fear and isolation will be commonplace in their daily lives.”
So, what on earth are they up to? “Ed and I, when we were
growing up, had lots of dreams about doing something like this,”
Ollie says. “We were in Mayfair in a pub having a few beers and I
saw this and I thought, this is exactly what we want. So, I turned to
Ed and he said, ‘Yeah, bang on’. There were two other people I
went to uni with and it seemed natural to get them involved: Kaylie
and Kells. So, we made a decision two years ago to do it.”
Ed is the only one who is married, and he admits it has taken
him a long time to persuade his wife – “she’s still not convinced”.
Their parents aren’t exactly overwhelmed either. “It’s been quite
hard convincing the family,” Ollie says, “because it’s both sons
going off. My parents are not risk takers. My father’s in the church
and he says, ‘I don’t know quite where you got all this from’.”
During the WoodVale Indian Ocean Race, the four will carry out
oceanographic research – measuring salinity, a critical ecological
factor, for example – and will be subject to physiological research.
Dr Nick Knight will carry out tests on the rowers throughout training,
during the race and after the race.
The team will also be raising funds for The Light Dragoons
LEFT: OLLIE AND ED GET IN TRAINING
MORE THAN 200 PEOPLE
HAVE ROWED ACROSS THE
ATLANTIC, 12 HAVE WALKED
ON THE MOON, BUT ONLY
11 HAVE ROWED ACROSS
THE INDIAN OCEAN – UNTIL
NOW. MAYFAIR SURVEYOR
OLLIE WELLS, HIS OLDER
BROTHER ED AND TWO
TEAMMATES GET READY
TO ROW 3,100 MILES.
ERIK BROWN REPORTS
THIS BOAT, FROM A PREVIOUS WOODVALE EXPEDITION, IS
SIMILAR TO THE ONE THE BOYS WILL BE USING
Charitable Trust (The Colonel’s Fund), Compassion UK, Access
Sport and The Mark Evison Foundation. Lieutenant Mark Evison
was a friend who was shot and killed, aged 26, while serving in
Afghanistan. The foundation set up in his name provides funds for
the personal development of young people aged 16-30.
The boat the four are having built in Cornwall is 29ft and has a
carbon-fibre shell. There are two rowing stations and one mattress.
When they’re not rowing, the crew will be sleeping or cooking.
Temperatures will be fierce – especially near Australia – and weather
and currents unpredictable. There will be times when they’ll be
going backwards, caught in powerful currents.
And, amazingly, it’s a race. Teams from all over the world are
competing. The fastest time in 2009 was 68 days, 19 hours and 40
minutes. The Mayfair team is hoping to break that record.
First they have to raise some money, and on Friday, October 29
they’re staging The Indian Ocean Charity Ball at the Hurlingham
Club in West London. The boat they’re going to sail in will be there,
along with James Pearson’s Trio from Ronnie Scott’s. Tickets range
from £110 to £3,000 for a table of 12 (rsvpcharityball@gmail.com).
The aim is ro raise £100,000 for charity on that night alone.
And they do need help, these guys. They borrowed a boat for
the Henley Regatta and rowed up and down the Thames for two
days. “Apparently some guy on the bank said we were the worst
rowers he’d ever seen,” says Ollie. “But we managed to do it
without any accidents – and we got lots of attention.”
Sponsorships opportunities are now open. For details, go to
www.indianocean3100.com.
33
charity

34
food & drink
OVERWHELMED BY THE SHEER
NUMBER OF RESTAURANTS TO
CHOOSE FROM IN LONDON?
RESTAURATEUR DIVIA CADBURY
HAS THE ANSWER: AN EXCLUSIVE
LIST OF THE 100 PLACES REALLY
WORTH KNOWING ABOUT.
BY KATE WHITE
When friends and family kept asking Divia Cadbury for
advice on where to eat in London, she decided to turn her
knowledge of the hottest restaurants in town into a
business.
Divia, who founded the hugely successful Knightsbridge
restaurant Zuma in 2002, says: “People associate me with
the restaurant world so they would always say, ‘Where can
we eat the best roast chicken? Who does the best risotto?’
To the point where I was like a concierge service. So my
husband said, ‘Why don’t you start a company?’”
She promptly set up Page One – a members-only
website based on the premise that there are only 100
restaurants in London worth knowing about at any one time.
Working on Page One with Divia is an impressive set of
names from the food industry. There’s her husband Joel
Cadbury, heir to the chocolate company and founder of
Longshot Ltd, which operated Chelsea pub The Admiral
Codrington and The Groucho before a successful sale in
2007. There’s Simon Davis, co-founder of the London
Restaurant Festival and presenter on Gordon Ramsay’s new
television show. And there’s restaurant critic Fay Maschler,
who heard about Page One and “loved the idea”.
She and Fay make a good pairing, says Divia: “The two
of us together are a really cool team because we’re so
different. She comes from a restaurant critic background
and I’m a restaurateur. Fay is divine. She’s very opinionated
but she’s the best in her field.”
Members pay £100 to join the website, which gives them
access to 100 restaurant recommendations by the
Cadburys, Davis and Maschler. Restaurants are split into ten
categories that are updated monthly, ranging from types of
food – including Japanese, Italian, British – to quirkier
categories, such as Just for the Food and See and Be Seen.
The What’s New section is updated whenever a new
restaurant launches that is worth knowing about.
In the know
The team’s reviews include insider advice on who to
know, where to sit, what to eat and which wine to choose.
In other words, “You’re not like an outsider going to a
restaurant, you always have an inside track,” says Divia.
“With all the information in today’s world, Page One
really narrows it down and distills it into only 100
restaurants you need to know about. I’ve had great
feedback from some really important people saying they are
working their way through it, which is the best compliment.”
Divia cites Kai on South Audley Street as a favourite
Mayfair restaurant: “I know it’s expensive but the food is
divine. For me, it’s the best Peking duck in London. And I
love the wasabi prawns.” Semplice on Blenheim Street does
“the best saffron risotto” while Ikeda on Brook Street is
worth a visit for its sashimi and tempura.

36 37
food & drink
The kitchens of The Ritz are startling. Gleaming, modern
and organised with military efficiency, they’re easily the largest
kitchens I’ve ever seen. A tour with executive chef John
Williams – one of the towering figures of British gastronomy –
takes a full 20 minutes.
Son of a South Shields fisherman, Williams has retained
both his Northern accent and native good humour. As we
walk through the brightly lit and spotless kitchens beneath
Piccadilly, Williams’s conversation is punctuated by the
phrase “Good laaad”, as he hands out praise to members of
the 55-strong brigade.
In one area, we speak to a chef who that day alone has
made 6,000 sandwiches. In another, Williams points to a bit
of kit and says: “That’s my truffle freezer”. In yet another,
they’re cooking chocolate cookies and fruit cake and the
smell of warm chocolate is heart-stopping. It’s a magical
place.
But we’re between lunch and evening service and the
kitchen is relatively quiet. On a busy day it produces 400
afternoon teas, 100 lunches, 120 dinners and looks after
room service and the bar as well as servicing the private
rooms. What we’re looking at here is a factory at rest.
Williams’s office is right at the heart of the kitchen; from
SOME SAY THAT THE RITZ HOTEL ON
PICCADILLY IS MORE BEAUTIFUL NOW
THAN AT ANY OTHER TIME IN THE PAST
CENTURY. AND THE FOOD’S PRETTY
GOOD TOO. ERIK BROWN MEETS
EXECUTIVE CHEF JOHN WILLIAMS
Glamour
and Ritz
LEFT: JOHN WILLIAMS AND TEAM IN THE KITCHEN
ABOVE: THE SUMPTUOUS SURROUNDS OF THE RITZ
the windows he can see what’s going on, while managing
the paperwork alongside his PA Ildiko Marcus. Bluff and
cheerful, Williams has had a brilliant career. Executive
chairman of the Academy of Culinary Excellence, awarded an
MBE for services to the catering industry, honoured by the
French with a CMA (the equivalent of an MBE), he was maître
chef des cuisines at Claridge’s before joining The Ritz in a
role he had previously been in line for no fewer than four
times.
“I always knew I was going to work at The Ritz,” he says.
“It was my dream job.” But, he explains carefully, he had to
make sure he would be allowed to run the kitchens in a way
that responded to The Ritz brand. Before he arrived, a
common complaint was that the food didn’t match up to
what some believe to be the most beautiful restaurant in
Europe. Now it is highly regarded for what Williams calls
“palace cuisine”.
The Ritz is owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who
have poured money into the hotel. “They nurture it,” Williams
says. Palace cuisine costs money. It’s an investment the
owners have been happy to make.
In culinary terms Williams is a classicist. Food has to
evolve – “it’s no good cooking what we were cooking 30
years ago,” he says – and these days everything is a little bit
healthier. But there are still echoes of Escoffier in the kitchens
of The Ritz.
Just listen to this random sample of dishes from the
autumn menu in the main restaurant: tortellini of langoustine
with cauliflower purée tout Paris; tournedos of beef
Périgourdine with girolles a la crème; and conduit of dates
and sauternes with walnut clafoutis.
Willliams may be executive chef in charge of a huge
kitchen brigade, but he still cooks. He “orchestrates”, he
says. Up and down all the time, pointing chefs in one
direction or another. “Most nights I get dragged in,” he says,
with a smile.
Williams accepts that he’s an elder statesman these days,
and many are surprised at the youthfulness of his team. He
has an answer to that, too: “They keep me young and I give
them structure.”
At one point in the interview, he begins: “I’ve got a young
kid here …” He pulls a blind to one side and says, excitedly,
“This one here. Just look at the way he cleans. See how little
he is, see how old he is. Young as anything. I have a kitchen
of 50-odd and they adore him, the enthusiasm he has.”
The teenager – he’s 17, but looks younger – is called
Spencer Metzger and has just won employee of the month in
one of the world’s most famous hotels.
Chairman of the Academy of Culinary Arts’ annual
Awards of Excellence, Williams already knows that he’s got a
handful of future great chefs in his kitchen. He knows how to
spot them and he knows how to nurture them.
So, how come – and I ask this with temerity – The Ritz
doesn’t have a Michelin star or two. “I would love to know,”
he says. “Honestly, I know at this point that our food can be
as good as any three-star restaurant in this country. I don’t
want to say it’s a miscarriage of justice or anything like that,
but we’re definitely one star or two star.”
We chat about it for a while. I say I have no clue how
Michelin works and Williams replies with laughter and without
rancour: “How many people do?”
Appetisers
PODIUM RESTAURANT at the London Hilton on Park Lane
will be offering a limited-edition White Chocolate Afternoon
Tea during Chocolate Week (October 11-17). Priced at £25
per person and available daily from 2-6pm, the menu will
include miniature fancies and cupcakes made using white
chocolate, along with scones and a selection of
sandwiches. To book, call 020 7208 4022.
RENOWNED CHOCOLATIER
William Curley will be setting up
shop at Claridge’s during
Chocolate Week, starting on
October 11, creating chocolate
cakes in the foyer daily. His
signature mousses and pastries
will feature on the afternoon tea
menu, priced at £35 per person.
On Friday October 15 and
Sunday October 17, William and
his team will be hosting a twoand-a-half
hour masterclass
(£100 per person) starting at
11am. Friday will be dedicated to
chocolate truffles and Sunday will
focus on the combination of seasalt
caramel. To book a place,
call 020 7409 6307.
FORTNUM & MASON in Piccadilly is devoting an entire
week to activities around Chocolate Week. Some of the
world’s most talented chocolatiers will be on hand in the
confectionery department to answer your questions about
chocolate. There will be tastings and demonstrations
including one from Valrhona’s own chocolate chef, Andrew
Gravett. On Saturday October 16, there will be a chocolate
tea party for kids, complete with chocolate fountain and a
chocolate teddy bear to take home. To book a place, call
0845 602 5694.
TO CELEBRATE CHOCOLATE WEEK La
Maison du Chocolat is organising a
series of sampling and tasting
sessions at its store at 45-
46 Piccadilly. It will
also be launching
a new, limitededition
chocolate
box containing two
ganaches – Caracas
and Extreme Chocolat.
Sampling is free of charge and
tasting sessions are priced at £50 for
two hours. To book, call 020 7287 8500.
FOOD & DRINK: Selma Day
selma@pubbiz.com

CHARLOTTE DELLAL
PUTS THE ‘HIGH’ INTO
HIGH HEELS. HER
TOWERING CREATIONS
ARE BELOVED BY
EVERYONE FROM
BEYONCÉ TO SARAH
JESSICA PARKER – AND
NOW THEY’RE DEFYING
GRAVITY RIGHT HERE
IN MAYFAIR.
SELMA DAY REPORTS
Walking
tall
Charlotte Dellal ushers me into her shoe boutique in Maddox
Street wearing skyscraper heels that accentuate her already long,
perfectly shaped pins. With glowing skin and hair resembling that
of a 1940s pin-up, the 29-year-old beauty has inherited her looks
from her mother Andrea, a Brazilian model who, back in the
1070s, graced the international catwalks doing shows for the likes
of Valentino and Chanel.
“My dad sometimes says that I didn’t get my looks from him,”
says Charlotte, smiling. Dad is London property magnate Guy
Dellal – the son of property investor Jack Dellal (worth £450
million according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2010).
Undeterred by her family’s success, Charlotte has made a
name for herself as a shoe designer. “My parents have always
encouraged me,” she says. “They used to say, ‘If you want to do
something, go for it, but no doubt you’re going to have to work
hard to do it’.
“And I think, no matter what your background is, if you work
hard you can succeed. I don’t think there is anyone or any brand
that is successful and has gone on for hundreds of years that
hasn’t worked hard.”
That determination has helped Charlotte to grow her
Charlotte Olympia shoe label over the past five seasons,
culminating in the opening of her shop this summer. “It’s the first
shop I looked at,” says Charlotte, “and it had everything. The size
was perfect, the outside of the building was amazing and the
location was perfect. It’s a Mayfair address – it was always going
to be in W1 because it says a lot about your brand – and we
wanted to keep it very Mayfair.”
The Charlotte Olympia signature spiderweb branding
(a reference to Charlotte’s Web) appears all over the shop – in the
window display and over the entrance – as well as on the soles
of the shoes.
Inside, the charming Georgian building has been restored to
its former glory. The original herringbone floor has been relaid and
the cabinets and floor-to-ceiling storeroom have all been handcarved
from oak. Neisha Crossland wallpaper, spider-fabric
blinds, antique-brass lamps and an Eames-style sofa complete
the look, which Charlotte describes as “chic and classic”.
“It’s quite old-fashioned, like an old glove or hat shop, which
is the whole vibe – and I wanted to keep with the façade of the
building,” she says.
“I’ve a nostalgia for the 1940s and 1950s and that’s the feel of
my shoe collection. They are quite classic shapes but I have a lot
of fun playing with colours, prints and textures. I’m very much
inspired by Ferragamo – all the colours and materials he used.
They were classic but special and the detail and craftsmanship
were amazing.”
Charlotte is known for her super-high shoes, whose fans
include Beyoncé, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sienna Miller, Penelope Cruz
and Sarah Jessica Parker, who wore the Dolly and Eve shoes in
the last Sex and the City movie. Needless to say, those styles
have since sold out.
Though the shoes are popular with celebrities, Charlotte says
she doesn’t design for any particular type of woman or age
group. “I’m a woman designing fun shoes and sexy shoes for
women,” she says.
Charlotte studied shoe design at the specialist Cordwainers
College in London, graduating in 2004. “Design was something
39
fashion

40
fashion
“I’ve a nostalgia for
the 1940s and 1950s
and that’s the feel of
my shoe collection.
They are quite
classic shapes but
I have a lot of fun
playing with colours,
prints and textures”
Charlotte Dellal
I wanted to go into,” she says. “In the beginning, it was clothing
but then, as I developed, I got into corsetry and, after doing my
foundation course, decided on shoes.
“There’s something special about designing shoes – you are
building something three-dimensional. And they are the kind of
things I believe you can have on display – they are works of art. I
collect old, beautiful shoes – I have a pair framed upstairs. But
also, I don’t know a woman who doesn’t like shoes. When I buy
a pair of shoes, even if I’ve got nowhere to wear them, I’ll walk
around in them all day.”
Charlotte was drawn to the glamorous world of fashion from
an early age, as was her sister Alice, a model and investor in a
jewellery business. “I got into it because of my mother I guess,”
says Charlotte. “Seeing all the pretty things, the dresses and the
fashion shows, I just wanted to be a part of it. But funnily
enough, I always wanted to be part of the other side. I liked it
backstage – everybody getting ready – rather than me being the
one wearing the clothes. It’s the creative side I’ve always loved,
but I am very interested in the business side of things.”
So, has she picked up a few tips from her dad along the
way? “I try to learn from him,” she says. “If I don’t understand
things or need help, I’ll ask him or my husband [private equity
dealer Maxim Crewe].
“I wouldn’t say I’m a super businesswoman, but this is first
and foremost a business. I think it is very important because it’s
all very well making pretty things but if you don’t have a business
plan, it doesn’t really work. But I’m enjoying the challenge and I’m
learning as I go along.”
Charlotte hopes to open more stores in the future but for now
is content to grow the brand slowly. She plans to broaden the
range of shoes to include more flat styles and lower heels, as well
as offer a range of clutch bags and hosiery to match the shoes
for next season.
She says she’d love to see a few more individual boutiques
along the street. “These buildings are beautiful – they are all
unique and old,” she says. “It would be nice to have a hat shop
or a flower shop or an old-fashioned chocolate shop. I’ve got this
romantic idea of it being like that.”
Calling all EAs, PAs,
office managers
and secretaries in
Mayfair & St James's
Save time • Save money • Stay in touch
with mayfairpa.com
the new website designed just for you
Free offers • Discounts • Advice
Check out the Mayfair PA website at
mayfairpa.com for all the latest offers,
including a complimentary glass of champagne at
Japanese restaurant Sumosan in Albemarle Street
and The Criterion restaurant in Piccadilly.
Visit out new recruitment section for details of a top
PA role in one of Britain’s leading estate agencies,
and if you’re thinking about planning your office Christmas
party, make sure you read our top tips from a leading
Mayfair events company.
And while you're at it, why not sign up for the mayfairpa
forum – the only social networking site for EAs, PAs office
managers and secretaries in Mayfair & St James's.
Register for free now at
mayfairpa.com

42
health & beauty
Get fresh
THE BAMFORD BODY COLLECTION is a
luxurious range of botanical products
designed to cleanse, protect and rejuvenate.
Made in England from organic ingredients,
the aromatherapy-based collection combines
modern cosmetic science with natural
ingredients and fragrances. It includes hair,
body and hand care products plus an organic
baby collection, in fragrances that reflect the
freshness of the British countryside.
The collection, which can be found in the
rooms of The Connaught and Claridge’s, is
available to buy at luxury retailers including
Liberty in Great Marlborough Street.
Turn back time
Naturally
beautiful
NUXURIANCE IS AN anti-ageing range created
specifically for women aged 35+ to target the effects of
ageing on mature skin. It includes Anti-Ageing
Re-Densifying Day Emulsion (£40 for 50ml) – a multipurpose
day cream that is rich in organic acids which
are said to improve the texture of the skin while
tightening pores and creating a luminous complexion.
The range also features a day cream with Jericho
rose and Meadowfoam plant oil, which hydrates the
skin; a night cream containing maca root and araucaria,
which help to eliminate toxins; and serum with bakau
plant cells and araucaria seeds to brighten and plump.
You’ll find the collection at Space NK, 45-47 Brook
Street.
Go wild
INSPIRED BY WILD, ancient hedgerows,
Green & Spring’s latest skincare additions
– Deep Face Scrub and Gentle Face
Refiner – work together to leave skin
smooth, supple and glowing.
The scrub (£24 for 70ml) features
tiny granules of walnut, clary, sage,
hyssop and lavender, which combine to
boost circulation and lift out embedded
grime, while extracts of horse chestnut
and comfrey are said to increase
elasticity.
Let yourself
blossom
THE ORGANIC PHARMACY
has launched its first fragrance
collection and, in keeping with
the company’s philosophy, it is
100 per cent natural and
organic. Priced at £110 for
100ml, it comes in four different
fragrances: Citron (inspired by
the southern Italian Riviera),
Oriental Blossom, Jasmine and
Oud – with the scent of an
Arabian souk.
NATURAL AND ORGANIC
SKINCARE IS A RAPIDLY
INCREASING MARKET, AS MORE
OF US THINK ABOUT WHAT
WE’RE PUTTING ON OUR FACE
AND BODY. TAKE YOUR PICK
OF THIS PERFECT BUNCH
Feel divine
FRENCH NATURAL-beauty company
L’Occitane’s Divine Immortelle
skincare features organic Immortelle
essential oil that stimulates the
production of collagen, improves
circulation and protects the skin from
free radicals.
It also contains myrtle essential
oil, which enables mature skin to
recover youthful cells to help slow
down the skin-ageing process.
The collection, which includes a
cream, serum and eye cream,
is available at L’Occitane
at 149 Regent Street
and at Selfridges.
The Gentle Face Refiner (£38 for
30ml) combines essential oil extracts
and a fruit formula that work
together to remove dead skin cells
and brighten the skin. It is made
from a blend of five botanical
extracts: bilberry, sugar cane,
maple, orange and lemon, which
contain naturally occurring alpha
hydroxy acids that increase the
rate of cell renewal. You’ll find the
range at Liberty.
Peace
mission
On the path to creating a luxury beauty range that was both ecologically and
socially responsible, Mayfair-based Davina Peace got used to being told: “No”.
Suppliers she approached kept insisting that organic, natural ingredients simply
couldn’t create products with the texture, scent and results of other luxury brands.
But when her brand Davina Peace launches in Harrods next month, she may prove
her sceptics wrong.
The gorgeous 29-year-old with flawless skin shows me videos her team filmed
daily to record every step of their journey. The videos, which will appear on the
brand’s website where she blogs, mark the ambitions, rationales, difficulties and
triumphs in creating body creams, oils and even candles that stand up to ethical
scrutiny. Upon testing the products, any difference in quality is indiscernible.
“As a woman you want to feel sensual, sexy and pampered,” says Davina,
believing that choosing to live “eco” does not have to not mean sacrificing this
experience – even though she was told compromise was inevitable.
One of the highest hurdles came in the challenge to replace silicone. “Everyone
said that you can’t avoid the use of ingredients like silicone because that’s what
creates the cushion texture, the gliding feel, mops up all the residues,” she explains.
Davina wanted to exclude silicone because it was non-biodegradable and came
from a finite source, meaning that if her products contained it, her range would not
be certified organic.
The solution to this potential show-stopper was, unexpectedly, crambe oil –
extracted from the Crambe Abyssinica plant, traditionally grown in the
Mediterranean. The company convinced a farmer in the North of England to cultivate
it, and claims that this is the first use of the oil in a UK beauty product.
Since starting work a year ago, the small team has spent its time questioning
suppliers who openly doubted its vision and finding others who were ecstatic at
what it was attempting. Its efforts were rewarded by a Soil Association certification.
The fervour that this mission must have demanded suggests that Davina’s drive
is personal. “I don’t think what we’ve done in the last 12 months is possible unless
there’s an emotional connection to it,” she says.
Following an environmentally aware childhood in Wales, Davina worked at the
Soil Association while at university. But her passion for all things organic later
became truly ingrained when she was forced to leave Saatchi & Saatchi, where she
worked, due to endometriosis and an unsuccessful operation.
“I was given quite a grave prognosis and researched how to get better. I
completely transformed my life.” Her diet became entirely organic but when she
looked for natural, organic products to pamper her skin with, she struggled to find a
brand that was both eco and luxurious – which prompted her to create one.
“You can’t categorically claim that organic and natural products are healthier,”
she admits, “but I just believe that surely it’s better to work in tandem with your body
and use natural wherever possible, not to challenge your system. We have a lot of
life-pollution. Why expect our bodies to process things they shouldn’t?”
DAVINA PEACE WAS DETERMINED TO
PROVE THAT A LUXURY BEAUTY RANGE
COULD BE ENTIRELY ORGANIC AND
NATURAL TOO. SUPPLIERS TOLD HER
IT COULDN’T BE DONE – BUT HER NEW
BRAND, PROVES HER DOUBTERS
WRONG, WRITES ADELE JARRETT-KERR
HEALTH & BEAUTY: Selma Day selma@pubbiz.com
43
health & beauty

44
restaurant directory
To appear
in the
restaurant
directory call
020 7259 1050
Get online
CHECK OUT the Mayfair PA website at mayfairpa.com
for all the latest offers, including a complimentary glass
of champagne at Japanese restaurant Sumosan in
Albemarle Street and The Criterion restaurant in
Piccadilly. Visit out new recruitment section for details
of a top PA role in one of Britain’s leading estate
agencies and, if you’re thinking about planning your
office Christmas party, make sure you read our top
tips from a leading Mayfair events company.
Milling around
THE MILROY RESTAURANT was the
venue for our latest Mayfair PA event,
where guests were treated to champagne
and canapés before enjoying cocktails
and entertainment in The Red Room – the
exclusive private members’ club at Les
Ambassadeurs in Hamilton Place.
45
mayfair PA

FRIENDS AND BROTHERS-IN-
LAW SIMONE LAVARINI AND
LORENZO FRAQUELLI SET UP
THE FIRST SPAGHETTI HOUSE
ON ONE FLOOR OF A BUILDING
ON GOODGE STREET. NOW, 55
YEARS ON, THE GROUP HAS 11
LONDON RESTAURANTS AND
STILL PLACES FAMILY AT THE
HEART OF ITS BUSINESS,
DISCOVERS LUCY BROWN
BELOW: THE LAVARINI FAMILY
CELEBRATES 55 YEARS OF SPAGHETTI
HOUSE – WITH SOME PASTA
“It’s a very simple dish, Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Peperoncino: garlic, olive oil and chilli
pepper. It’s very simple, very full of flavours, full of taste. I enjoy that. At the moment,
one of my favourite dishes is the sea bream, I really like our sea bream. It’s a whole
fish, and filled with lemon and herbs. And I guess I always enjoy the Scaloppa – veal
Milanese in breadcrumbs. I always enjoy that, that remains one of my favourites from
childhood.”
It’s the 55th anniversary of Italian restaurant group Spaghetti House, and
managing director Luigi Lavarini is talking about his favourite dishes on the menu.
He’s just waved off his father, founder Simone, and sister Stefana, the company’s
marketing director, after a celebratory lunch at their Westfield London restaurant, one
of 11 across the city. His brother Riccardo is the commercial director. Family is
clearly important to Spaghetti House, whether it’s the Lavarinis, the staff or the
regular customers.
Luigi feels it’s part of why the company has survived in a difficult market. “We’re
not fashion orientated, we’ve never tried to be leaders in any way. We’re just strong,
family-style, trattoria-style, Italian restaurants,” he explains.
The chain was founded by Simone Lavarini and Lorenzo Fraquelli, both northern
Italians, who met in London. A junior partnership in Jermyn Street’s Mocaris
eventually led to the friends opening the Bamboo Bar coffee house in Golders Green
in 1953, and in 1955 they launched the first Spaghetti House in Goodge Street.
The restaurant grew from just the ground floor to occupying four floors, and other
locations followed. Fraquelli and Lavarini become brothers-in-law when they married
two sisters, so Luigi is following in the footsteps of his uncle and his father. Simone,
now in his eighties, still visits many of the restaurants every week.
Luigi feels that the staff have played an important role in the restaurant group’s
success. “We retain very good staff, who have remained with us very often over the
years, so customers are used to meeting people who they know in our restaurants,”
he says.
In Mayfair’s Duke Street Spaghetti House, manager Jose da Silva is a good
example. Da Silva started as a waiter at Spaghetti House 22 years ago and worked
his way up, moving to different branches. He recently joined the Duke Street
restaurant from Sicilian Avenue.
Recipe for success
49
business

50
business
“I’m getting to know the regular customers, the ones who visit Duke Street,” Da Silva
says. “Some of our regular customers from my previous management position at Sicilian
Avenue have come down and seen me as well, which is nice.”
Da Silva has stayed so long with Spaghetti House because of the way the company
works. “Through the years, they let you grow yourself, becoming a chef, becoming a
manager, becoming assistants,” he says. “With the Lavarinis, they are part of the team,
and we feel that we are part of the family.”
Luigi says that the company is planning to add another one or two restaurants in the
next two years and remain in the West End of London. “We haven’t been interested in
expanding outside,” he explains.
And, of course, they want to keep Spaghetti House as a private family business. “It is
our way of life, it’s what we do, and we also think that that’s been a way of preserving
the quality and the consistency over the years,” he says. “It’s also been a way of
remaining close to our staff and customers, which we think are very important focuses
when running restaurants.”
BUSINESS: Erik Brown
erik.brown@pubbiz.com
The Spaghetti House Siege
SPAGHETTI HOUSE hit the headlines in September 1975,
when three gunmen forced their way into the Knightsbridge
restaurant where managers had gathered to collect the week’s
takings – then about £13,000.
“It was effectively a robbery that went wrong, and they
held nine of our managers as hostages down in a small
storeroom in the basement in the restaurant for five days,”
says managing director Luigi Lavarini.
A tenth staff member had escaped unseen and raised the
alarm. Police cordoned off the area and were able to use a
fibre-optic miniature camera to spy on the gunmen.
“They managed to bore a very small hole, about the size of
a pinhead, into the storeroom,” Luigi says. “From this optical
lens they were able to have a view and relay that back to a
television screen, so they could see everything that was going
“We retain very good
staff, who have
remained with us very
often over the years, so
customers are used to
meeting people who
they know in our
restaurants”
Luigi Lavarini,
Spaghetti House
on inside there and they could hear everything.”
The press assisted by demoralising the gunmen with radio
coverage about how their demands – safe release and an
aircraft to fly them abroad – would never be met.
Luigi says he was in Italy at the time: “It came up on the
news in Italy. It was on the radio news every night, it was in
foreign newspapers. It was definitely in the headlines for five
days. It was a big thing.”
The gunmen finally surrendered and all of the managers
were unharmed. “It was an unfortunate occurrence that, in a
way, I think might have given Spaghetti House a lot of
exposure,” says Luigi.
The managers who were held hostage have now all retired
– but the entrance of the Knightsbridge restaurant has framed
newspaper clippings to remind people what happened there.

52 53
GROSVENOR OWNS
4.2 MILLION SQUARE FEET
OF OFFICE SPACE IN
MAYFAIR AND BELGRAVIA,
RANGING FROM SERVICED
OFFICES ON SHORT LETS
TO CONVENTIONAL OFFICE
SPACE IN BEAUTIFUL
BUILDINGS WITH
COMMUNAL GARDENS. BUT
ITS AIM IS TO BE MUCH
MORE THAN JUST A
LANDLORD
Feature sponsored by
Living cities
www.grosvenor.com
Every year for the past four years, Grosvenor – the privately-owned
property group – has commissioned Ipsos MORI to carry out a customer
satisfaction survey on the group’s London estate.
In the first three years, the researchers concentrated on Grosvenor’s
1,500 leaseholders. But in 2009, it extended the survey to include owner
occupiers and freeholders in Mayfair and Belgravia – taking the survey
target to 4,000.
The aim was to help Grosvenor better understand its customers, to
measure how well they are being served and to identify areas for
improvement.
“We are far more customer focused now than we have ever been,”
says Lauren Buck, investment director at Grosvenor.
In fact, the past three or four decades have seen a steady shift in the
UK property industry away from a landlord and tenant relationship rooted
in a feudal past and towards a more modern, customer supplier
relationship.
The move has been accelerated by a drop in the length of occupiers’
commitments to office space as the market has changed. It was usual in
the 1970s, for instance, for tenants to sign up for 25 years, for the
landlord’s agent to give the tenant a key and then pretty much walk away
until the next rent review.
Now, ten and 15-year leases are common on even large office spaces
throughout the UK. And on Grosvenor’s London estate, where floorplates
tend to be small, short leases of five years are the norm.
The commercial reality is that where occupier movement is more fluid,
occupier retention becomes more important. But there is more to
Grosvenor’s increasing customer focus than that.
Grosvenor’s ownership in Mayfair and Belgravia includes office
properties, retail units, flats and houses. The group also takes
responsibility for the public realm – the streetscape as well as open
spaces like Mount Street Gardens and Grosvenor and Belgrave Squares.
For this reason, it is in a unique position to create something more
sophisticated than mere buildings in which white-collar employees can
work. It can begin to create and develop a complete working environment.
Marketing director Simon Philips explains: “We have a range of offices
to suit different types of company, but also to suit the same company at
different stages of its development, so they can become part of the
Grosvenor family. They can grow and expand and we’ll have something to
offer them at every stage.”
Grosvenor’s goal is to build a sense of community, Philips says. It likes
to create clusters of similar business and to put businesses with useful
skill sets in touch with each other.
“We’re also involved with amenities and public realm,” Philips says,
“and we can play a greater role in creating the overall working
environment than other landlords might.
Building a
business
community
ABOVE: 67 GROSVENOR STREET
BELOW AND RIGHT: 52 BROOK STREET
“So, a business owner who’s looking to set up an office in Mayfair can
be confident that for his or her staff, there’ll be the shops, there’ll be the
restaurants, there’ll be the green spaces that will make it an attractive
place to work – and their staff won’t groan when they hear they’re
relocating to Mayfair.”
The key to the creation of a complete working environment is to attract
new businesses onto the London estate and to nurture them as they
develop – providing them not only with office space, but also with high
levels of customer care.
“One of the things that came out of the Ipsos MORI survey,” says
Simon Elmer, operations director at Grosvenor, “is that small occupiers
sometimes didn’t feel they got the support they might need on all of the
things they have to deal with as an occupier of premises.
“I took the view that if they wanted to go to somebody about rent
reviews, lease renewals or occupancy issues, it wouldn’t be easy for them
to do that with their landlord. So, we looked to create an independent
information service for them.”
Elmer contacted a business called the Tenant Assistance Programme
(TAP), which exists to “create a bridge of communication between
landlords and tenants”. Regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors, TAP provides occupiers with guidance on property-related
issues and acts as a gateway to specialist service providers.
“There’s a charge,” Elmer says, “but we pay that on behalf of the
occupiers, so it’s available for them to use when they see fit.”
And that’s not all Grosvenor does for its tenants. “We have events,”
says Buck. “Customer lunches are something we’ve done for years. About
four times a year we invite people who occupy space on the estate here
to come and meet the office team, to have lunch, get to know us better
and get to know other businesses on the estate.
“And we’ve done other drinks and social events, whether it’s at
Christies or Dunhill to really foster a better relationship with the occupier.”
Philips adds: “No business owner wants to spend time worrying about
their premises – their focus is on running their company, whether it’s a
billion-dollar hedge fund, an IT services firm or an accountancy practice.
“We’d like our tenants to be confident that when they’re with
Grosvenor they’ve got the right place at the right price, and they’re getting
a reliable, personal service that adds value to their business.”
• Entry level for a business wanting to take space on the estate is: no
space at all. Grosvenor’s serviced office offer, managed by the Executive
Offices Group, includes a virtual office. Serviced offices for two to 50
people are available in Mayfair at 67 Grosvenor Street, 28 Grosvenor
Street and 52 Brook Street.
http://www.executiveoffices.co.uk/about/brand_grosvenor/

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APOLLO REAL ESTATE HAS TAKEN 7,000 SQUARE FEET
ON THE FIRST FLOOR OF 50 NEW BOND STREET. THE
SCOTTISH WIDOWS INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP REAL
ESTATE SCHEME BUILDING IS NOW FULLY LET ONLY
EIGHT MONTHS AFTER COMPLETION. OTHER
TENANTS INCLUDE POLO RALPH LAUREN,
ATOMICO AND VARDE PARTNERS.
H2SO, DTZ AND JONES LANG
LASALLE WERE THE
LEASING AGENTS
Survey the market
WHO OWNS MAYFAIR? The usual answer is Grosvenor, and
it is true that the privately owned property group is the
largest single owner in the square kilometre.
What’s less well known is that the Berkeley Square
Estate – run by Lancer Property Asset Management – is
owned by Middle Eastern investors, and that the City
Corporation owns property in Mayfair too – in New Bond
Street, Conduit Street and South Molton Street for instance.
Institutional investors – insurance companies and
pension funds – hold Mayfair properties in their investment
portfolios and there’s a healthy scattering of buildings
owned by wealthy private investors, including several
Middle Eastern families.
There’s strong demand for retail units in Mayfair and
data on shop rents – Zone As – is widely available. The
same is not true for office space and both quality and
price vary.
Above 2,000sq ft, the market is well researched and
prices tend to stabilise. In smaller units – and in Mayfair,
much of the office space is in smaller units – quoted rents
can differ by tens of pounds per square foot from building
to building, depending on ownership and the incoming
tenant’s property experience.
As we went to press, the headline rent – the top rent
anybody is likely to pay – was estimated at £90 per square
foot, although Grosvenor had good space on offer in
Balderton Street at £52.50 and the lowest rent we spotted
was £25 per sq ft in a 600sq ft office on Maddox Street.
There are only two ways to make sure you get a
cracking deal: spend a couple of months studying the
market, or use a chartered surveyor.
There is a temptation to save the cost of a chartered
surveyor and go it alone. The danger of that is that you end
up paying over the odds – bear in mind that £5 extra per
square foot on 500sq ft over five years is £12,500. The
numbers can add up even on small space.
If you’re looking to move – and the “churn” of office
tenants in Mayfair is huge – you cold do worse than use a
surveyor who is a Mayfair specialist. Those that have
advertised with us in this issue are all reputable companies,
and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has a finda-surveyor
facility on its website, www.rics.org.

“The saving grace
for landlords is
that there is so
little new supply
coming through”
David Hanrahan,
H2SO
THE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MARKET IS ALL
ABOUT OPINIONS AND GOSSIP. SO WHEN THE
MAYFAIR TIMES COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
LUNCH BROUGHT TOGETHER A DOZEN OR SO
OF THE MARKET’S MAJOR PLAYERS AND
THREW IN SOME AGENT PROVOCATEURS TO
STIR THE DEBATE, YOU WERE ALWAYS GOING
TO GET SOME INTERESTING INSIGHTS.
DUNCAN LAMB REPORTS
Working
lunch
It was perhaps apt that, having gathered for lunch in The Looking Glass Room at
Flemings Hotel, those assembled first reflected on the recent Alice in Wonderlandstyle
progress of Mayfair’s commercial property market.
For example, in what property market other than Mayfair – while the spectre of
the “double-dip” recession looms – could the demand for luxury retail space be
outstripping supply? Yet that is exactly what’s happening in Mount Street where
Grosvenor is revitalising the shops between Park Lane and Berkeley Square.
Grosvenor’s Director of London Retail Leasing, Helen Franks, reported that such
has been the demand for space from luxury retailers that rents have more than
trebled in the past four years. The street is now studded with international brands
such as Balenciaga, Christian Louboutin and Goyard. And there’s no sign of the
demand abating.
“At the moment I don’t have enough units to meet demand from the list of
tenants who want to acquire space on the street,” reports Franks. “In the new year
we’ll be focusing our attention on north Mayfair, around Duke Street and North
Audley Street. We’ve got some exciting opportunities around those streets.” Look
out for a handful of new major luxury brands to make their Mayfair debut shortly.
CBRE’s Head of Retail Research, Mark Teale, confirmed that the upward trend
has not been restricted to Mount Street: “Demand in Bond Street has been very
strong even in the past two years. A weak pound has attracted foreign tourism
which has boosted shopping levels, but there’s very little supply of new retail space
which is why new areas – like Mount Street – are progressing so well.”
While the top end of the luxury retail property market may have been insulated
from economic strife, no one could say the same about Mayfair’s office market.
“At the moment I
don’t have
enough units to
meet demand
from the list of
tenants who want
to acquire space
on the street”
Helen Franks
Director of London
Leasing, Grosvenor
59
commercial property

60
commercial property
“I want to know
when my
customers aren’t
happy. You can’t
create value for
occupiers unless
you’re prepared
to receive the
brickbats as well
as the bouquets”
Gillie Bexson,
Portfolio Manager,
The Crown Estate
David Hanrahan of H2SO summed up the journey: “We had a rocketing market
through to 2008, with financial services occupiers flooding into Mayfair while some
of the more traditional occupiers in the area – for example, surveying firms – moved
out. Then the financial service sector was hard hit, rents went down quickly but
now have recovered well. The saving grace for landlords is that there is so little new
supply coming through: there are only two substantial schemes due for completion
in Mayfair in the next 18 months.”
As a consequence, rents have bounced back substantially. However, this is not
to say that market conditions wholly favour landlords. A recurring theme of the
lunch was the importance of occupiers and the need to provide high-quality
customer service. The Crown Estate’s Portfolio Manager, Gillie Bexson was
emphatic: “I want to know when my customers aren’t happy. You can’t create
value for occupiers unless you’re prepared to receive the brickbats as well as the
bouquets.”
It was a point picked up by Patrick O’Keefe of GVA Saxon Law, who observed
how fundamentally the structure of the market had changed in the past three
decades: “In the 1980s we let offices on 25-year leases. Today, most West End
office leases are under ten years and the average office lease in London is just eight
years.”
This, O’Keefe believes, demands a different relationship between landlord and
tenant: “The landlord-tenant relationship has been traditionally adversarial. Now, it’s
a case of trying to change the relationship to one of working together.”
For the occupier, the benefit is better customer service and for the landlord, it is
a better tenant retention profile and holding on to vital income.
David Foord – a director at developer, Bellhouse Joseph – has first-hand
experience of how the landlord and tenant relationship works in the face of shorter
leases. “After being at a UK firm of surveyors, I worked for a Canadian development
company and was astonished to see them treat their tenants as customers,” he
recalled. “It was because they were on short leases and there was also no barrier to
the supply of space. But the landlord knew if they looked after their tenants they’d
stay. Occupiers are the lifeblood of any building and if you don’t look after them,
you lose them.”
The serviced office offer – where an occupier pays an all-encompassing fee to
cover all workplace costs – is based on flexibility and customer service. As Emily
Smith of Executive Offices Group observes: “We’re somewhere between a hotel
and an office building.” Given that serviced offices are where many new businesses
start out, the sector is a good bellwether of where the market and the wider
economy are headed. “We’ve already done more deals this year than the whole of
last year,” Smith reports.
In many respects, the customer relationship that applies in serviced offices is a
model for conventional landlords – especially the level of communication. Smith
explains: “Because we’re around, we learn things – those ‘watercooler moments’ –
about what’s happening in our occupiers’ businesses. We can pick up on when
they maybe thinking of moving we can learn when they’re thinking of moving, what
they need from their workplace, how their clients are doing.”
When the economy was at its toughest, the serviced office sector came under
pressure not just because of the prevailing economic conditions but also because
the providers of conventional office space rapidly became more accommodating in
terms of lower rents and shorter leases. This was a theme picked up by Simon
Tann of DE&J Levy: “It’s very different to the early 1990s when landlords were so
“The landlordtenant
relationship has
been traditionally
adversarial. Now,
it’s a case of
trying to change
the relationship to
one of working
together”
Patrick O’Keefe,
GVA Saxon Law
“Because we’re
around, we learn
things … about
what’s happening
in our occupiers’
businesses.
We can pick up
on when they may
be thinking
of moving, what
they need from
their workplace,
how their clients
are doing”
Emily Smith,
Executive Offices
Group
slow to react to the new market conditions. This time they’ve been more flexible
and lowered rents. They’ve reacted quickly to increase occupancy rates. That’s
good. There was a time when only certain organisations could afford to be in
Mayfair and that has changed.”
As a consequence, a market with shorter leases is much more liquid and
businesses have more opportunity to exit leases and adapt office space to meet
their operational needs. There certainly seems to be an increased level of activity
around the corner.
Greg Porter of Sparkes Porter said: “If you take the top of the office market as
having been 2007-08, the five-year leases granted then will come to expiry in 2013.
So even though the prospects for leasing activity in 2011 may look slightly weak at
present, we expect a lot of churn in 2012 and beyond.”
However, at least one person at the table remained unimpressed at the options
that property providers offer. Although he started out as a commercial property
expert, Paul Winter now runs Corpra – a management consultancy that helps
businesses restructure, grow and perform. “When we’re analysing companies as
part of an acquisition process, most of the contracts that have been entered into
run for a year or less,” he said.
“But when we set a date to capitalise the liability of these contracts, the property
contract stands out – even if it is just for eight years – as all other contracts are
usually a year or less”. For Winter, the jury is still out on whether property is doing all
that it can to offer the flexible support that business needs.
At this point in the conversation, the guests were digesting a fabulous meal from
Flemings head chef Simon Henbery, and had delved into the restaurant’s impressive
wine list. It felt like the right time to look to the future.
As a built environment research expert, Rob Harris’s job is to look at what’s
happened and tell you what’s going to happen. Earlier this year his consultancy,
Ramidus Consulting, picked up on the growing trend of Mayfair offices being
converted into residential properties. With residential values outstripping commercial
in many locations, the trend is set to continue but Harris is not alarmed at the
implications.
“Mayfair has always been changing,” he says. “Many corporate occupiers have
moved out because of a lack of large-scale product that suits their needs. They’ll
move to the necklace of developments around central London – Paddington, King’s
Cross, Regents Place, London Bridge City.
“Mayfair is changing into, dare I say it, a playground of leisure areas, luxury retail
and also a boutique office location. That’s a tremendous change. I don’t say it’s a
bad thing – they’ll always be businesses that need and want to be in Mayfair – but
it is happening and it’s a reflection of the latest evolution of the area.”
The message is that Mayfair is changing – but the good news is that it’s
changing for the better: a better balance of commerce, leisure, retail and residential.
Encouraged by that thought, those present prepared to go back to the realities of
the current Mayfair property market.
“Performance today is all about maximising revenue,” said Gillie Bexson before
she left. “It’s the single most important focus. The market will say what values are,
but you’ve got to keep that income coming in. If you’ve got income for the next 12
months and you’ve got a bit more coming after that you are going to be OK as a
performer – even in a downturn.”
61
“Mayfair has
always been
changing.
Many corporate
occupiers have
moved out
because of a lack
of large-scale
product that suits
their needs”
Rob Harris,
Ramidus Consulting

64
commercial property
What do an innovative corporate building and an opulent restaurant
have in common? With careful and imaginative design, they can both
become stunning spaces to work in.
“Companies are beginning to realise that interiors count,” says Jon
Eaglesham of architect and design consultancy Barr Gazetas, which
designed office-space provider Regus’s building in Berkeley Square.
Firms now look to designers to conceive interiors that transform
working practices and help focus strategic goals. Businesses
acknowledge that interiors are a necessary investment for inspiring
workers, reducing staff turnover and expressing corporate culture in ways
that no written slogan or profile can.
Mayfair’s shops, restaurants, hotels and offices are decked with stateof-the-art
design and furnishings, creating some of the country’s most
coveted commercial properties. In fact, a client recently asked Eaglesham
to give his building “a Mayfair”. Working here is more stylish than ever.
In part that is because work is changing, and interior designers are
keeping up with the challenges this presents. The office is now wherever
there is a reliable internet connection, a comfortable chair and a cup of
coffee. Of course, those are the basics.
Regus offers mobile workers a variety of lighting to suit concentrated
work or relaxation. The building’s façade is constructed from gallery
glass, selected for its clarity, and looks out over Bruton Street with the
Stella McCartney boutique in view.
Each bay is lit with LED lighting that changes throughout the day and
a huge hole has been cut in the heart of the building, featuring a
sculpture by art collective Random International. It’s a new style of
business lounge which evokes boutique hotel, with elements like a timber
wall brought in to create the comfort of a hotel and the industry of a
business centre.
It’s unsurprising, considering the boundaries between interior design
for corporate and hospitality properties are shifting. “The principles
behind hospitality are becoming more appropriate in an office
environment,” says Eaglesham.
But, while hospitality design may influence corporate, trends don’t
necessarily flow in the opposite direction. David Linley, of furniture
company Linley in Albemarle Street, who has designed interiors for
Claridge’s and The Sloane Club restaurant in Chelsea, says: “The more
rarefied the hotel or restaurant, the further it moves away from a
corporate look and feel. Much more emphasis is placed on creating
interiors that are unique, distinctive, and therefore memorable.”
This is what Linley aimed to do with the restaurant at The Sloane Club.
“We had to give the space a contemporary feel without losing the
traditional features of the room, remembering that many members loved
the club for its familiarity and sense of continuity,” he says.
One thing is clear – both corporate and hospitality designers are
embracing new propositions. “Interior design for commercial properties is
LEFT AND BELOW: OFFICES BY REGUS
GIVING YOUR OFFICE
‘A MAYFAIR’ IS NOW
SHORTHAND FOR
INJECTING THE KIND
OF INTERIOR DESIGN
VALUES ONCE ONLY
RESERVED FOR THE
HOSPITALITY
INDUSTRY. AND THE
IMPACT IT CAN HAVE
ON YOUR BUSINESS IS
SIGNIFICANT, FINDS
ADELE JARRETT-KERR
Watch this
space
becoming more adventurous every year,” says Linley.
“Colour schemes are getting bolder and brighter and there is a real
desire for statement interiors to make commercial properties unique.”
For Eaglesham, the great accomplishments of the Regus building are
its openness and transparency. He believes these elements allow users to
feel like they are part of the space rather than just sitting in it.
“Years ago, designers were designing offices without thinking about
the end user, which is a disaster,” he says. “It’s one of the reasons why
now we have so many inflexible buildings that have to be reinvented.
“That’s the challenge of modern interior office design – it’s not just
about the person who’s going to occupy it the first five years, but about
how it can be occupied over the next 20 years.”
The Regus building, with its creatively lit business lounge and The
Sloane Club restaurant with its original artwork are representative of the
imaginative directions commercial interiors are taking. Both designs
enshrine comfort and style – the stuff work should be made of.

Small is
marketable
A TWO-BEDROOM
APARTMENT ON CURZON
STREET, AVAILABLE
THROUGH KNIGHT FRANK
WHEN THEY COME to the market, the multimillion-pound
Mayfair mansions get huge coverage in the property columns of
national newspapers and magazines. But 85 per cent of sales
are in the sub £5 million price bracket, according to Peter
Wetherell of estate agent Wetherell, with 61 per cent of the
market up to £2.5 million and an astounding 43 per cent of the
market under £1.5 million.
It’s the most active part of the market, agrees Sarah
Matthews, negotiator at Knight Frank’s Mount Street office –
and it’s still moving, although demand is outstripping supply.
Entry level for Mayfair residential can be as low as £495,000
for a lease on a one-bed flat in Shepherd Market, Wetherell
says.
And right now Wetherell has a 56-year lease on a onebedroom
house – yes, a house – in New Burlington Place, for
sale at just £750,000.
“When we tell people what’s on offer compared with
Belgravia, Kensington and even Chelsea, they quite often say
that they’ll take another look at Mayfair,” Wetherell says.
“In fact, that led to an ad campaign we did: Take Another
Look at Mayfair. People are surprised what they can get.”
At the heart of the market, Matthews says, is the twobedroom,
two-bathroom apartment. “We’ve got a couple of
good ones we’ve just taken on,” she says, “including a really
good two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Curzon Street.
“It’s going to come on at around the £2 million mark. It’s the
type of thing buyers are looking for because it suits so many
requirements: it can serve as someone’s home, it could be
somebody’s London pied à terre and it’s a great rental
investment.”
As a global property adviser, Knight Frank has an interesting
challenge: “There’s a perception that Knight Frank doesn’t want
to deal with anything other than really big expensive houses,”
Matthews says, “but I’m here pretty much devoting my time to
marketing and advising on properties at the lower end of the
market, the one and two beds. Clients receive exactly the same
level of service.”
Shortage of supply, value seekers on the buyer side and
unreasonable expectations on the selling side are leading to a
tight market. But there are still some great properties around.
Wetherell has a three-bedroom flat for sale in Dover Street.
It’s above Automat the American diner and is on the market at
£1.6 million for a 985-year lease.
And a studio on Mount Street, overlooking the Mayfair
library, is under offer at just £595,000. “It’s a gorgeous little
property,” Matthews says, “ it’s just very small.”
Wetherell is also selling a one bedroom flat above the
recently opened Mount Street Deli at £1.4 million.

86 87
property
“She threads her way dexterously, with an unconscious air,
through the throng, commented upon by the hundreds who admire
and the hundreds who envy her. She pulls up her ponies to speak to
an acquaintance, and her carriage is instantly surrounded by a
multitude; she turns and drives back again towards, and then away
into, the unknown world – nobody knows whither.”
Future occupants of 15 South Street – newly come onto the rental
market – are unlikely to cause such a commotion when they pop
round the corner for a quick circuit of Hyde Park. But according to
this 1862 article from The Times, their predecessor in the property,
Catherine Walters, was a lady with a tendency to be noticed. As the
blue plaque outside the property testifies, it was home to Walters –
nick-named Skittles, after the bowling alley she frequented in
Chesterfield Street – from 1872 until her death in the building in 1920.
By then, her place in history was secured as the last of the great
Victorian courtesans – the women of the 19th century demi monde,
who existed in the shadows of society as paid companions of some
of the wealthiest and most influential men of the day.
Born in Liverpool in 1839, the daughter of a customs official,
Walters moved to London in her late teens and there created an
identity for herself as one of the pre-eminent courtesans of the high-
Victorian period. Her lovers included Spencer Cavendish – the
Marquess of Hartington (later the eighth Duke of Devonshire), the
future Edward VII, Napoléon III and the writer Wilfred Scawen Blunt –
who wrote poems about the object of his infatuation.
Known for her striking classical beauty, Walters was also a fine
horsewoman and drew crowds when she trotted along Rotten Row in
her skintight riding outfits – much discussed and emulated by highsociety
ladies of the day. But her most bankable talent was her
discretion: she never confirmed or denied rumours about the
RENT A HOUSE WITH A
HISTORY, WITH THE BEAUTIFUL
FORMER HOME OF VICTORIAN
COURTESAN CATHERINE
‘SKITTLES’ WALKER
identities of her benefactors and remained unwaveringly loyal to them,
securing herself a long career and a prosperous retirement at number
15, where she presided over a political salon in her later years.
The building is now a modern five-bedroom family house, recently
redecorated by interior design company Red Zebrano and retaining all
the period details – cornicing, marble floors, fireplaces – that attracted
Walters to the property almost a century and a half ago.
A large marble hallway complete with chandelier leads straight into
the dining room where she once entertained her guests, who would
then follow her up to the impressive first-floor reception room with its
beautiful high ceilings and sash windows.
The master bedroom suite is, fittingly, accorded its own floor, while
the old servants’ quarters now provide useful room for extra guests or
a nanny in the basement – which also houses a private garage.
And as Kate Townrow, head of Mayfair Lettings at Knight Frank
(0207 499 1012), says: “The blue plaque provides a uniqueness to
the property – overseas clients particularly enjoy the prospect of living
in a property of historical significance.”
If you don’t have a benefactor now might be the time to find one;
the house is for rent for a cool £5,000 a week.
Hold
court
PROPERTY: Nuala Calvi
nuala@pubbiz.com
LEFT AND BELOW LEFT: CATHERINE
WALTERS’ FORMER HOME HAS BEEN
GIVEN A FACELIFT BY INTERIOR
DESIGNERS RED ZEBRANO
On the run to Mayfair
ANOTHER INFAMOUS long-term Mayfair resident –
albeit of more recent vintage – has also been causing
crowds to gather in the area.
Fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir headed for his old
stomping ground when he came back to the UK to face
fraud charges relating to the collapse of his Polly Peck
business empire in 1990.
Nadir previously had his office headquarters on
Berkeley Square and owned a five-bedroom corner
house close to Harry’s Bar in South Audley Street. On
his return to Mayfair, he has rented an even bigger
house for £5,000 a week, just off Grosvenor Square,
where he has been snapped by a hoard of paparazzi.
In the interim, the businessman has missed out on
an eye-watering increase in property values. Estate
agent Wetherell acquired his old home for a client off
the bank selling Polly Peck’s assets in December 1992;
on the market for £850,000, it went for the knockdown
price of £612,500. Managing director Peter Wetherell
estimates it would now be worth up to £10 million.
Earlier this year, Wetherell also sold the house he is
now renting in an off-market deal for £7 million. The sixbedroom
house previously sold in 1992 for just £1.225
million, marking a 600 per cent return for its previous
owners.
So why is it that Nadir can’t seem to get enough of
Mayfair? “Old habits die hard,” says Wetherell. “And
where better to bring your new 26-year-old wife?
Although he’s tagged, so he has to be in bed by 12
o’clock – which leaves out Annabel’s.”

88
interiors
“It’s all about being comfortable at home, having the
children around and being able to read.” That’s the cosy
message from interior designer to the stars Nina
Campbell this season.
As the recession eats into our disposable income
and the shorter days make us want to retreat into our
burrows, making a home feel relaxed, familiar and
above all snug is the priority.
“It’s a really interesting moment in interior design:
that brittle, pretentious thing is over,” says Campbell.
“People are thinking more seriously about life and
what they want. I think they want to stay home, look
after their families, entertain at home.”
So just how do you create that warm feeling inside?
Get comfortable
The biggest comfort factor comes from the biggest piece
of furniture in the living room: the sofa. “There’s always a
place for a big, deep, comfortable sofa,” says Campbell.
“You’ve got to put comfort over looks to some extent.
Contemporary sofas often have backs that are too low –
you need something that holds you in and envelops you.
Sofas are probably easier if they’re plain, and I always
think more forgiving if they’re in some form of chenille
mix, because they don’t show creases.”
Calm down
Think carefully about the effect the colour of walls will
have on your mood. “Aquas are very popular at the
moment,” says Campbell, “and they’re very calming.
Silvery, pale greys are taking over from beiges – they’re
more light-reflective and less yellowing – and are very
easy colours to work with as backgrounds. Big patterns
can be very overwhelming so you have to think very
carefully where you put them – a terrific wall in a corridor
leading off somewhere, for instance.”
Cushion it
Cool, calm backgrounds can be brightened up with
small splashes of colour. “You need punchy, jewel
colours to bring the excitement in,” says Campbell.
“Turquoise, amethyst, sharp greens on cushions or small
chairs you can pull up to the fireside, in satin or velvet.”
FROM THE TOP:
LARGE DIGBY SOFA IN ROUEN CLAY. £1,400
FROM JOHN LEWIS, 300 OXFORD STREET
PERSIAN KASHGAI RUG. £825 FROM
LIBERTY, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET
ART DECO PICQUE FLEUR VAL ST LAMBERT
VASE. £3,500 FROM MALLETT, 141 NEW
BOND STREET
PURPLE COCO CHAIR. £1,359 FROM NINA
CAMPBELL, 9 WALTON STREET
INTERIORS: Nuala Calvi nuala@pubbiz.com
Home
comforts
OUR HOME SHOULD BE OUR
REFUGE FROM THE WORLD.
INTERIOR DESIGNER NINA
CAMPBELL SHARES HER TIPS
FOR CREATING A WARM,
INVITING ENVIRONMENT AS
THE TEMPERATURE DROPS
Take the chair
When buying a chair, think carefully about how you’re
going to use it. “We all read in different ways – people
might want to curl up in a chair or sit upright with their
arm supported,” says Campbell. “You can’t just get
something out of a catalogue and assume it’s fine. It’s
like a bed – you have to try it out, imagine yourself in it.”
Floor them
Campbell prefers carpets upstairs and in bedrooms –
“they’re cosier and softer” – but downstairs, wooden
floors can still be cosy, providing they’re good quality
and dressed with a beautiful rug. “Acres of wooden floor
can look too bleak, but as long as you have enough
upholstery around you and nice cushions to absorb
noise it’s okay,” she says. “Buy a Tibetan rug or even a
plain Wilton with a coloured border. Just make sure that
it’s big enough so that, in a dining room, chairs are
always on the rug if you push them back.”
Be yourself
Above all, the new look is about you. “It’s wonderful to
be in the Ritz Carlton on holiday, but not the rest of the
time,” says Campbell. “Homes had a period of looking
like a hotel, but now people are wanting to make things
more personal. The picture you lust over may not be the
one I lust over, but that’s what makes a house. Go to
affordable art shows or weekend antique markets and
find that piece of coloured glass or funny little picture
that means something to you.” And remember, your
home is only as warm as your heart. “It’s not really about
curtains and carpets,” says Campbell, “but how warm
you are when friends come round.”

98
meanderings erik brown
A life behind bars
“SHIRLEY MACLAINE borrowed my blender,”
Nobby Andrade says. We’re working through
a list of famous people he’s met: Roger
Moore, Steve McQueen, Kathy Kirby, Chris de
Burgh, Prince Charles and Princess Diana…
The names trip off his tongue easily, but
then Nobby has been a barman in Mayfair for
the thick end of 50 years – 29 of them in the
same bar at the Millennium Mayfair London
Hotel in Berkeley Square.
Film star Shirley MacLaine borrowed his
blender to make smoothies, it turns out. He
wouldn’t have objected: he’s one of the nicest
guys in the world.
Amazingly, Nobby recently turned 70. He
doesn’t work as much as he used to since he
had a car crash – falling asleep at the wheel,
he tells me – but he’s there often enough to
greet regulars and he thinks he’s going to give
it another year yet, which will take him to 30
years behind the same bar. “I’m still enjoying
it,” he says.
Frankly, I’m surprised he’s still talking to
journalists after the mauling he was given by
the national press and TV a few years back.
Nobby had served the former KGB officer
Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned, and
got home one day to find the world’s press
camped outside his house in Essex.
Among the many erroneous stories that
subsequently appeared was the “fact” that he
had developed cancer as a result of exposure
to the Polonium 210 that killed Litvinenko and
had only five years to live.
Happily, it wasn’t true. And I’m delighted to
see Nobby cheerful, healthy and having a
good time – he’s one of the best in the
business.
• Incidentally, I see the lovely Marijke
Jongeleen and the Irish barman Jim Murphy
have turned up at Avista, the Italian restaurant
in the Millennium Mayfair. Marijke was formerly
catering manager at the Lansdowne Club
round the corner in Fitzmaurice Place and is
Smiley, happy people
WHERE’S THE smiliest place in
Mayfair? The answer, apparently, is
Shepherd Market. We know this
because a group of diploma
students studying architecture at
London Metropolitan University did
the research to find out.
It wasn’t all they studied – far
from it. The students – 14 of them
– looked at many physical and
social aspects of life in Mayfair
including “internationalness”,
CCTV cameras, usage, people in
uniforms, traffic, parking and the
value of cars on the streets.
All of the data captured has
been turned into maps and, with
the help of Grosvenor, published
as a book, Mayfair Mission Unit 13.
Interestingly, the students
mapped anxiety as well as smiles
and found that the most relaxing
place was Mount Street Gardens
and the most intimidating the
spaces immediately outside the
US and Saudi embassies. No
surprise there, then. That’s where
the guns are.
one of the sunniest people I know. She’s been
appointed general manager. Good move: now
Avista has the front-of-house charm to match
the excellent cooking of chef Michele
Granziere. Jim joined a few weeks after
Marijke. He’s a man for whom the phrase “gift
of the gab” could have been invented – and
he makes a mean Manhattan.
ABOVE: NOBBY ANDRADE
LEFT: MARIJKE JONGELEEN
Ace player
A 22-YEAR-OLD Brit from Rochdale,
Jake Cody, beat all comers to win
the World Poker Tour at the Palm
Beach Casino in Mayfair a few
weeks back. He walked off with a
staggering £273,783 to add to the
£707,228 he won in the European
Poker Tour in January. He described
himself afterwards as “excited and
overwhelmed” – and it didn’t sound
to me as if he was bluffing.