Right now there are two things to tell you about The Pearson Room.
The first is that it’s just launched its new cocktail list for winter 2022, with the bar team working hard to come up with 14 drinks to tickle the tastebuds of thirsty Wharfers.
“I would describe it as focused on smoky, spicy and sweet flavours as those are right for this time of year,” said Theo Damse, assistant bar manager at The Pearson Room.
“We try to make it so we have as little waste as possible behind the bar and we make use of as much of each ingredient as we can.”
That means the venue, which is located above Waitrose overlooking Canada Square, is all set for winter, with a special Christmas drink – Santa’s Little Helper – also in the pipeline for the festive season.
General manager at The Pearson Room, Emilie Parker-Burrell said: “We like our menu to be original, creative and something you won’t find anywhere else.
“The team have been amazing, coming up with all these drinks since we first talked about changing the menu in June.”
See below for our six picks from the new list.
Also on Wharfers’ radars should be the venue’s loyalty scheme, which applies to PAs, EAs and anyone working at a company who has responsibility for making corporate bookings.
“We’re calling it The Pearson Collective,” said Emilie.
“The way it works is that those on the scheme get points based on the number and size of booking that they make with us.
“Because we are owned by Third Space, those points can be used as credit at the club, Natural Fitness Food and Third Space Spa.
“You’d get one point for a booking for four people, which works out at £5.
“The Pearson Room is very flexible – it can handle small dinners right up to receptions for 350 people.
“If you booked exclusive hire of the whole venue, that would be 40 points, so £200 in credit. We want to reward those who are loyal to us – it makes sense if we give something back.”
Email events@thepearsonroom.co.uk for more information about The Pearson Collective
SIX OF THE BEST – OUR PEARSON ROOM PICKS
1. Cinema Seat – £14
Mezcal Montelobos, Cointreau, popcorn syrup, lime, pineapple juice
This punchy drink comes garnished with a few sweet kernels of popped corn and some sticky syrup to help the medicine go down
2. Fairy Belle – £12.50
Belle De Brillete, Benedictine, pistachio, pear, Prosecco
The ideal welcome drink for a festive bash, this slender, elegant flute comes with a couple of pistachio nuts and a crisp, clean flavour
This pale purple drink lies as lightly on the tongue as the first whisper of ice crystals forming from the morning dew. A subtle cocktail in debt to the classic Aviation
4. Winter Drop – £14.50
Rémy Martin 1738 cinnamon, lemon, orange juice, fresh orange segments
This is a proper, grown-up drink served with slices of fun – literally three toasted orange segements dipped in sugar and cinnamon
5. Just Chill – £11
Ocho Tequila, watermelon liqueur, grenadine, watermelon syrup and chilli
This is the partygoer who makes an entrance in a stunning shade before hitting the dance floor to spice things up. Carefully balanced
6. Santa’s Little Helper – £14.50
Bruichladdich Port Charlotte, Mount Gay Rum, Cherry Heering (served hot)
Available from November, this brilliant, potent drink should be a Wharf rite of passage. Heady, smoky and warming for winter
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
The topic of energy is seldom out of the news at present.
There’s the government plan to cap household bills at an average of £2,500 through 2023 with six months of equivalent support for businesses at a cost of more than £100billion.
Then there’s the longer term problem that, unless humanity brings down global carbon emissions by finding ways to generate the power we need in more environmentally friendly ways, then our activities on this planet will be the end of our species.
Whatever is going on in the market or with the planet, organisations’ ability to accurately know their own usage and impact is essential.
That’s where Utilidex comes in. Founded in 2012, the company is based at Level39, Canary Wharf’s tech community, spread across various floors of One Canada Square.
“We create software for businesses, the public sector and industry,” said co-founder and director Mike McCloskey.
“We do three things. Firstly, we do billing and, by default, bill validation for our customers.
“Secondly, we handle energy procurement – that means buying energy for the future for large corporates and industrials particularly.
“The reason we do that is so companies are less exposed to big changes in prices, to mitigate big shocks in the market.
“Then thirdly, from the data we receive, we create, assess and monitor the carbon footprint of an organisation based on the latest conversions.
“These actually change every year based on how much renewable energy is in the system.
“Once you have that data, which tends to be in half-hourly granularity in the UK, you can make observations – a business can monitor things like how much energy is being used when a property is vacant or a floor is empty in a building.
“You can work out things like energy intensity per square foot and then compare different buildings to see how they differ.
“That’s how you start to understand whether you’re wasting energy.
“Once you start looking at data in this highly granular form, then the observations become more interesting.
“These days, companies are devoting a bit more time to this – they are carbon aware – but even prior to that there was still a requirement for people working in facilities management to understand day-on-day, week-on-week, month-on-month, whether the organisation was making energy reductions and procuring power more effectively.
“These are the sorts of things we try to inform our customers about.
“With our software, it’s all about usability and understanding how the system works – getting as much benefit as you wish and deciding how much activity you can and want to devote to energy.
“In terms of value, we can measure the impact of projects and behavioural change – for example, swapping to LED light bulbs.
“The data can provide the justification for doing things like that.
“We also do the basic things like ensuring our customers’ bills are accurate.
Utilidex co-founder Mike McCloskey
“If your bill is £5million, then you’ll want to know if it’s correct or whether you’re under or over.
“It could be that a company is still being billed for a property it no longer owns, that the rates have changed or that the meter data is either not coming through or has been poorly estimated.
“There’s a lot of talk about energy suppliers over-billing, but in my experience, they’re just as likely to under-bill which is equally problematic if there’s a shock at the end of the year and it wasn’t in the budget.
“Traditionally much of this work was done manually, which was time consuming and prone to error, so we do it digitally.”
Utilidex, which has recently added water to the list of utilities its software supports, did not spring fully-formed from the minds of its founders – Mike and co-founder and CEO Richard Brys.
Instead it is a company where change and evolution have shaped its activities, growth and direction.
“When you start a business in the utility sector, especially if you’ve got some experience, you usually have a plan,” said Mike.
“But as the market evolves there has to be re-calibration and sometimes chucking everything out of the window and starting again.
“All these things happen in a dynamic fashion, but you have to adapt to those changes to stay in business.
“We were very lucky. Our first two corporate customers – Bourne Leisure and Aviva – had massive environmental awareness in 2014 and still do today.
“Their interest drove us into an area where we had to learn quite quickly what had to be done to support behavioural change in buildings.
“Nowadays, every organisation above a certain size in the UK has a carbon target.
“These are set at board level, so have to be adhered to, and there are lots of opportunities where our data can be used either by consultants, developers or sales providers to build a business case for a project.
“We want to build our business in the UK and grow it here – there’s a lot to do.”
One of the parts of its business Utilidex hopes to expand is the ways it supports organisations to reduce their carbon emissions.
Mike says industrial companies will invest in making their own energy
“I’m actually more optimistic now about climate change than I was eight months ago,” said Mike.
“Sadly, that’s down to the rocketing energy prices.
“They will cause a dark winter where energy conservation becomes really important for financial survival, be that for households or businesses.
“The impact of this will accelerate the process because it will force everybody’s hands and that should be a good thing for the planet.”
While Mike said there were no easy fixes for businesses facing escalating bills, he said some would be in a position to take action.
“It’s a massive problem and will need to be addressed in a variety of ways,” he said.
“One way for organisations to do that is to become both producers and consumers of energy as well as investing in batteries to help avoid peak rate tariffs.
“Where firms have the capital, now would be a really good time to invest in wind or solar – and make their own energy. That’s the way industrials will need to go.
“It’s also good because it creates additionality as well – there’s one more solar panel or wind turbine generating power that can be used or fed back into the grid.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
A long-time fan of gin and tonic, Jim Mark had been on a skiing holiday to Norway and experienced the drink in a new way.
He was served big glasses with quality contents (think Williams Elegant Gin and Fever Tree Tonic), topped off with a variety of garnishes.
Before long he was gently slurring the words “Jim and tonic” and a business idea and brand name were born.
“That experience got me thinking about getting these flavours to everybody and so I bought jimandtonic.com for £20 – that was the beginning,” said Jim.
“We started in 2016 with one van – Genevieve – having agreed to trade on a golf course at a corporate event.
“It was on a whim really, an idea to try and build a company that was about bringing wonderful gin and tonics with crazy garnishes to people, which not many had seen at the time. It went down really well.”
The day was such a success, in fact, that further sporting events followed as the fledgling company built its business from a mobile base.
“Then we got into Mercato Metropolitano, at Elephant And Castle, which was our first permanent bar,” said Jim.
“That’s where our main distillery is and it really helped our business.”
Jim And Tonic garnished with cucumber and lavender
Further expansion followed, including a partnership with brewery German Kraft, which brings us to 2022.
In addition to an extensive outdoor terrace, indoor bar and restaurant, there will be two distilleries – one for gin and one to create rum.
There’s also an events space and plans for a botanical rooftop garden on one of the two buildings the company has taken over.
“We visited this place and fell in love with it – it feels like an open space,” said Jim.
“In terms of hospitality, I think the area is underdeveloped – there’s not much of an offering for people.
“But these are lovely buildings, right by the water – there’s the outside space and we can make this a place that’s great for all.
“We’re a distillery but we want to create great spaces – boutique shops and bars for people to come and enjoy their gin and tonics.”
Located a short walk from Pudding Mill Lane DLR station, Sugar House Island is towards the Bow end of Stratford High Street.
Jim And Tonic’s patch sits in Dane’s Yard, right on the banks of Three Mills Wall River Weir – a stretch of water that forms a triangle with the River Lea and Pudding Mill River.
With a plethora of wooden benches to choose from, lit by white bulbs strung above them, a bar on an open-top bus and a 40m, multicoloured tower lit by some 600 LEDs, Jim And Tonic makes the area an immensely attractive proposition.
And that’s before you even get to the stuff it serves.
Bar staff sharpen up their skills – image James Perrin
“At the moment we’re producing four gins, and a couple of other products, including a Ugandan project with a water charity to fund wells in Africa,” said Jim And Tonic distiller Hendré Barnard.
“We are a sustainable urban distillery, so we try to source as many ingredients locally as possible.
“Our London dry, for example, has botanicals that can be found within the M25. We also try to work with community gardens, that supply us with ingredients we use in the gin.
“Our Roobee pink gin uses honey from urban apiaries, literally made in the capital.
“What really sets us apart is that we’re small scale compared to other so-called craft distilleries.
“We produce very small batches but we are looking to grow our sales to both consumers and businesses.
“We’ve got big plans and that’s one of the reasons we came here – to have a brand house, so that people can experience the process, do distillery tours, tastings and allow people to get their hands dirty to a certain extent, so they can see what we do and how we do it.
“We’re also going to be making new products for this area, speaking to the community and using local ingredients.”
One of those new products will be a first for Jim And Tonic – Sugar House Rum.
“Rum’s my favourite spirit and it’s really growing as a category,” said Jim And Tonic COO Matt Warren.
“As well as the distilleries over in the Caribbean, you can see a lot of variations with spiced rums, flavoured rums, and as a result it’s becoming a more popular drink.
The Print House features an extensive terrace area
“It’s great for mixing cocktails and it’s an area that really interests us because there’s a bit of a scene in the UK now.
“Here, we want to expand what we’ve done already, to bring that same vibe we’ve created at other venues to Stratford, with good quality products and music.
“This is an area that’s developing massively, with offices moving in and a lot of residential property.
“We want to make Jim And Tonic a great place to come, have a drink and some nice food – we have a really great chef here.
“Then add to that distillery tours, gin blending classes and events so we can do private bookings.
“We’ve already had our first wedding, so that’s something we want more of – a full calendar ranging from things like Yoga and community get-togethers to networking events and Oktoberfest.”
With all that in the pipeline, and Jim’s plans to create some kind of gin-on-tap system that delivers spirits at the press of a button, this is a place to try sooner rather than later.
The Print House is also home to Jim And Tonic’s bar on a bus
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Refugees have to leave everything they know – not just places and people, but communities, careers, sights and sounds they have found comfort in their whole lives.
They arrive in a new world and are expected to assimilate. But how do they do this when everything around them is unknown?
This is the struggle Dash Arts seeks to capture with its new production Dido’s Bar, an immersive retelling of Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid, set in Royal Docks.
“I’m Jewish and British, English and a Londoner and have always felt I’m many things – on the edge of so much,” said director Josephine Burton.
“I’ve enjoyed being in that liminal place between different communities. It’s how I see the world, so I’m interested in seeing other people’s otherness too.”
The story of migration and love will be told through the eyes of refugees today and unfold in a real life bar built in part of a former Tate & Lyle warehouse.
Audiences will, we are told, be immersed in a strange world when they arrive, where they are unsure what motivates the people around them.
They will mingle with the cast as the story of Trojan refugee Aeneas unfolds around them.
But instead of being set in ancient Italy, the production has been transported to a jazz bar with a line-up of live musicians.
It’s set to run at The Factory from September 23 to October 15, 2022.
“The audience will walk into the venue, with a house band warming up in the corner and they’ll grab a drink from the bar,” said Josephine.
“Then the drama of this amazingly powerful love story between Aeneas and Dido and the great battle between Aeneas, the foreigner, and Turnus, the local boy, will creep up around them.”
Josephine is co-founder and artistic director of Dash Arts, which is based in Whitechapel.
For the last 15 years it has worked with 9,000 artists to create work that bridges divides across art forms, cultures, languages and communities.
“We go on a bit of a journey and spend a lot of time listening, understanding, meeting and researching artists and eventually creating work with them,” said the 45-year-old.
“It’s like opening up a Pandora’s box with this extraordinary wealth to explore, understand and then share with audiences.”
Dido’s Bar has been two years in the making and was first inspired back in 2017 when Josephine met Kurdish Iranian refugee Marouf Majidi in Finland.
“I had been on an exploration of what it means to be European which had emerged out of the Brexit referendum,” said Josephine.
“I met Marouf in Finland in 2017 on my way back to the airport over a coffee and he told me his story of traveling to Europe.
“He fled Iran as a refugee and was relocated to Finland, where he settled and eventually studied at the Sibelius Music Academy in Helsinki, where he now teaches.
“He’s been on an extraordinary journey from the music conservatoire in Tehran where he studied Persian classical music, to teaching Finnish folk music.
“He found it very hard at first to establish himself musically and connect with the musicians he was playing with in Finland.
“Eventually something shifted for him and he found his place, but he was no longer ‘in tune’ with musicians from central Asia.
“It was such a short meeting, but that thing he said about feeling out of tune lived with me.
“I picked up the phone three months later and said I really wanted to tell his story and wanted him to be at the heart of it.”
Marouf Majidi – image Ali Wright
He agreed, but at first Josephine struggled to find the right way to bring his story to the stage.
“I wanted to tell Marouf’s story and find a way of understanding what it is to be European through the experiences of refugees who travel here,” she said.
“It’s perhaps the people who move here and go through such a transformation, musically and emotionally, to insert themselves and settle in a new place, that can help tell us who we are. They can be that mirror for us.
“But I didn’t want to just tell a personal story, I also didn’t want to create a super band of musicians. I wanted to do something theatrical and dramatic.”
Her lightbulb moment came when she remembered a text she had studied 20 years ago as a classics student.
“I was chatting to someone about how the Aeneid is the story of our time, of the refugee and the struggle to find a place to belong,” she said.
“Aeneas flees Troy in the war-torn East and travels across the Mediterranean to seek sanctuary and build a new home in Europe
“It’s the story of both the experience of fleeing and having to assimilate and discover that, once you’ve arrived, it’s only the beginning of the story.
“Suddenly I realised it was the perfect way to tell Marouf’s story and to understand the role of Aeneas in a contemporary setting.
“The original epic poem is pages and pages long in Latin, involves mass battles and love affairs and is very involved and beautiful.
“We’ve taken that story and mapped it on top of Marouf’s.”
She developed the idea during a series of residencies with playwright Hattie Naylor and Marouf, who has composed the music alongside Riku Kantola.
Research and development in Scotland in February 2020 was followed by a residency in Finland – a few days together as part of Royal Docks Originals – and a residency in Cornwall.
Marouf then moved to London this summer to finish developing the show.
The cast of 10 is a mix of nationalities – image Ali Wright
“I remember the two of us bent over on the floor in Scotland in the rain with copies of the Aeneid in English, Latin and Arabic ,” said Josephine.
“We spent hours trying to work out what the story was and finessed it to the point where we would challenge each other to tell it in less than a minute, then 30 seconds, then 10.
“Then we did a lot of jigsawing and planning and brought in Hattie who had adapted the Aeneid for Radio 3 as a drama.
“She’d go off and write and then we’d write a song together. It really was a collaborative process.”
The result is a show where the epic warriors of the original story are now musicians trying to make it into the spotlight and the goddesses are sisters who own two bars – one on the edge of town and one in the centre.
It draws on the backgrounds of its international cast who hail from Morocco, Madagascar, Germany, Finland, and Eritrea, and uses their native languages to enrich the performance.
Josephine said: “The show now is about how to understand an old myth written 2,000 years ago that feels so resonant and timeless.”
It will be staged in Unit F of The Factory, disused sugar warehouses that have recently been transformed into a series of new venues and workspaces.
“It could never be in a black box theatre,” said Josephine.
“I wanted the audience to feel that they were somewhere impromptu and exciting and slightly makeshift. We spent quite a lot of time trying to find a place and saw some extraordinary places across the Docks.
“Then, last May, I visited The Factory when it was in quite an early stage of development.
“Projekt, our partners for the show, had just got Unit F from Tate&Lyle and, when we walked in, there were pigeons in the rafters and sugar all over the floor.
“It was sticky and black underfoot and it felt very powerful as a venue – I just knew it would amazing.”
Dash Arts has built the bar from scratch and it will serve up beverages from nearby Husk Brewing using local staff.
Newham artists will take to the stage each night and the show will be complemented by a programme of gigs, talks, food events and workshops to engage the local community, which has been shaped through the area’s history of immigration and dockers.
“It’s a perfect marriage for us of place and story because the audience is really going to feel that they’re coming to somewhere incredibly exciting and diverse,” said Josephine.
“Newham is one of the most linguistically diverse boroughs in London – there are hundreds of languages spoken there – and it has always been a first port of call for people.
“So to tell this timeless epic story today in Newham’s docks is really thrilling and right.”
The project has been co-produced with the Royal Docks Team and Jospehine said they have worked hard over the last year to embed it into the community, meeting local groups and running music workshops.
“There is a real sense of culture and community building happening there and I got very excited about that,” she said. “I had this real instinct that there wasn’t anywhere else to put Dido’s Bar.”
She hopes the audience will embrace the world they have created.
“I really want them to have a wonderful night and love the music because it’s extraordinary,” she said.
“I want them to feel as I felt, that this old ancient story has such resonance today, to feel moved by the protagonists and the journey they have taken.
“I hope they feel we have done justice to some of the biggest questions of our time, about how to assimilate into our communities.”
THE FACTORY – A NEW VENUE FOR ROYAL DOCKS
Once used by Tate & Lyle for sugar production, this 5.2 acre site on Factory Road is now a series of work and event spaces run by meantime use specialist Projekt (also behind the Silver Building)
It landed the first grant from the Royal Docks Good Growth Fund for a year-long refurbishment and opened the 100,000sq ft space in June.
Organisations that have made The Factory their home include Community Food Enterprises, Links Event Solutions and The Beams – a new venue by Broadwick Live.
Unit A is home to a cafe run by The Breadmeister, Unit D is a set of workspaces and Unit F is a refurbished warehouse that will be hired out for film and TV productions.
Projekt said the venue provides new work and event spaces that will “safeguard and grow the already burgeoning artistic and cultural community around the Royal Docks, as well as providing a significant amount of affordable workspace.”
There’s more to going into work than toiling at a desk or moaning about your employer in the office kitchen.
It’s about coming to a different environment and being able to take advantage of facilities that simply don’t exist in the suburbs or the home counties.
Set over three floors, it boasts more than 100,000sq ft of training space including a climbing wall, swimming pool, boxing ring and pretty much every piece of exercise equipment you can call to mind.
Regular readers of Wharf Life will already be familiar with the hundreds of classes it offers every week, with everything from Yoga and Pilates through to the epic Yard WOD set in its purpose-built CrossFit-style training area.
The club recently launched its autumn campaign, offering memberships with no joining fee, encouraging Wharfers to see its extensive facilities as an extra benefit to heading into work, as more and more people transition back to regular commuting.
Elite personal trainer at Third Space Canary Wharf, Stephanie Whitehead, said the benefits to exercising this way were clear.
“Training at the gym is very different from training at home,” she said.
“During lockdown, because I’m a trainer, I could be very resourceful and come up with great workouts using just one kettlebell and that would be great fun.
“But we don’t have to do that anymore. The difference here is, firstly, the environment. This isn’t working out on a mat on your kitchen floor.
“Here, you’re in amazing surroundings with people doing really cool things. You’re somewhere else and focused – you’re ready to train.
Third Space Canary Wharf has received some recent upgrades including to its free weights area
“Secondly, it’s all the equipment. You’re not limited by what you have at home.
“If you haven’t been in a gym for a while, that can seem overwhelming – which is why having the input of a personal trainer is really important.
“Suppose, for example, you’re coming into the office a few days each week.
“We can put a programme together for you that fits that, tailored to maximise what you get out of each specific visit.
“Each trainer will have a different style and a different approach, but it’s our job to give you that clarity, structure and focus.
“It also prevents you just doing the things that you are good at, which can create imbalances in the body.
“My approach would be to work with a client on an all-round programme based on the number of days they are coming in to make sure all of their muscle groups are getting involved and we’re working on their whole body.
“For example, I’ll do strength training, but in terms of conditioning, I’ll always try to throw in bigger, full-movements like thrusters or squats.
“That way you get better results and the client gets more bang for their buck.
“I’d say a minimum of three visits a week is a good idea because that is just enough to build habit and consistency and it’s achievable.”
Stephanie says she believes in pushing herself and her clients
Stephanie has worked in the industry for more than a decade and has been a trainer at the Canary Wharf club for eight years.
She is also assistant fitness manager there, meaning she mentors new personal trainers as well as working directly with clients.
Having discovered a passion for fitness at university while studying psychology, she went on to compete in CrossFit before developing a career on the gym floor.
That broad background means she is well-placed to understand the benefits training can have on her clients’ mental health as well as their physical state.
“A lot of my clients would say they have very stressful jobs – lawyers who work really long hours, or bankers who might deal with mistakes involving millions of pounds – really high levels of pressure to deal with,” said Stephanie.
“Firstly, coming to the gym is a distraction and, secondly, it’s a complete break with everyday life.
“I always say to people that this is a place where they can leave work behind – one hour, which is just for them.
“No work, no phone if they want – just the training.
“Exercise is an outlet – a lot of my clients have a little vent at the beginning of their session and then forget the minutiae of the day.
“There’s also that feeling of achievement – getting that personal best on the 2k row or lifting heavier than ever before.
Third Space’s recent upgrades include new pin-loaded weight machines
“With consistency and discipline you will see results and that’s what’s so rewarding about it.
“It’s positive reinforcement and it’s just different from the feeling you get from, say, buying a nice pair of shoes.
“That can be great, but it wears off quite quickly, whereas the feeling you get from achieving in the gym, whether it’s building muscle or losing body fat, means you get fitter and stronger.”
Over the pandemic, many people will have naturally lost the habit of going to a gym and may be nervous about their ability to return to regular training.
Stephanie said the best remedy was simply to start exercising, but not to worry about attaining a certain level of fitness before getting back in the gym.
“Personal trainers are not like drill sergeants – we’re not going to go crazy at the beginning,” she said.
“Personal training is very tailored, so each individual client will have a different ability level. We’ll assess that in the beginning and we just go from there.
“Every single person, no matter what strength or fitness level they’re at will certainly see progress by the end of a few months.
“It might be that that they’re moving better or they feel less out of breath. They might be stronger or feel better.
“But there’s definitely no minimum standard to start coming to the gym – any time is a good time to start.
“My tip would always be to increase frequency.
Stephanie says commuters can get great benefit from exercising three times a week
“If you’re going only once a week and progress seems slow, then going up to three times will be of benefit.
“It’s also important to not just do that same movements over and over. That’s where a personal trainer can really help.
“Personally, I like having a certain amount of pressure.
“That’s why I compete in CrossFit, because having that constant challenge to improve gives me a limitless reservoir of drive and motivation.
“My training philosophy has always been to push myself and, within their own limits, that’s how I work with my clients too.”
In addition to its Canary Wharf club, Third Space operates in the City and at Marylebone, Islington, Mayfair, Moorgate, Soho and Tower Bridge.
Third Space is currently offering memberships to its clubs with no joining fee.
Other incentives include discounted personal training sessions, two complimentary guest passes to the club worth £50, a meal from Natural Fitness Food, 10% off at The Pearson Room and a 25% discount off the member’s first treatment or massage at the Third Space’s Canary Wharf Spa.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
For the last two years it has been heads down at Craft Central to keep things ticking over.
The creative charity on the Isle of Dogs had to bring in outside funding for the first time as the effects of the pandemic took hold.
But there is a new director at the helm – Jo McLean – who is ready to build the organisation back up and is looking around her to find its future direction.
“I took the job because I was really excited by the idea of a creative hub,” said the former professional musician, who knits and silversmiths in her spare time.
“I’m very much driven by community engagement. I think artists should sit at the heart of communities and be a really great resource for them. I see the potential for that to happen at Craft Central.”
A classically trained French Horn player, Jo spent 12 years touring internationally before packing away her instrument and starting a career in arts organisations.
“My first proper job was at Cove Park, an artist residency centre in Scotland,” said the 52-year-old.
“I was in charge of a capital project bringing in more accommodation and supporting the visual arts and crafts residences. That was when I first got interested in design and craft.”
A graduate of the Royal Northern College Of Music in Manchester, Jo lived in Scotland for 25 years working for organisations such as Uz Arts and The Touring Network and overseeing the creation of her own home, which gave her a new appreciation of architecture and buildings.
“I’ve always been really interested in good design and craft,” she said.
“So that’s kind of where my path into this area has come from.
Craft Central is based at The Forge on Westferry Road
“I’ve led organisations across all genres of arts, from performance through to visual arts, theatre, literature and lots of consultancy work as well around organisational development, which is, I suppose, where my real interest lies.
“This job brings together my two passions, which is great.
“It’s been a turbulent few years and the charity wanted somebody who was going to come and build up the organisation again and I have the skills to do that.”
It was love as well as work that brought Jo to the capital as she met her husband, a Londoner, and they tied the knot a few years ago.
“We had a long-distance relationship for quite a long time and decided we needed to come together,” said Jo, who recently dusted off her French horn to play on a new album by The Bluebells’ of Young At Heart fame.
She first moved to London just before the pandemic to work for Clod Ensemble, based on Greenwich Peninsula, but returned to Scotland after a year. When she saw the role at Craft Central she knew it was her chance to move down here for good.
“I was ready for a challenge, said Jo, who now lives in north London. “I’ve done organisation internally in CEO type roles but this role was very much building based, which I’d never done.
“The pandemic has left its financial mark on the organisation.
“It’s always been self-sustaining, but the next couple of years are slightly trickier in terms of how we make the business model work as well as it used to.
“All the parts are there, it just sort of needed an architect to put them all together and help everybody to make it work, which is what hopefully I’ll do.”
She had never set foot in the area before, but had heard of Craft Central from friends who have studios there.
Formed in 1970, the arts organisation spent 40 years in Clerkenwell, but in 2017 moved to The Forge on the Isle Of Dogs – one of the last buildings from the golden age of shipbuilding in the area.
Located on Westferry Road, it was built in 1860 for CJ Mare And Company and constructed the keel for battleship HMS Northumberland.
It fell into decline in the 1900s, but was restored and transformed into studios and workspaces used by Craft Central, by the construction of a virtually freestanding two-storey birch plywood structure within the existing Flemish bond brick walls.
“I was blown away – it’s a stunning, incredible building,” said Jo, who is currently hunting for a facilities manager to help take care of the site.
“What I really liked about it is there’s a connection to the west coast of Scotland, which has a really rich shipbuilding heritage and I’ve been told that a lot of Scottish people moved to the Isle Of Dogs for the shipbuilding industry down there.
“So being in that sort of very heavy industrial building feels quite comforting to me.”
The Forge’s studios are home to more than 70 makers
With around 77 makers based there, the studios are almost full, but Jo is concerned about the effect the cost of living crisis will have this autumn.
“Artists are going to be really hard pushed to afford the luxury of having a studio,” she said.
“I am anticipating people will have some very difficult decisions to make and I’m thinking about how we can make sure that we have a full space and keep the business model working.
“Our rent review will be due next year and I’m sure the utilities will go up. We are going to have to face some harsh realities about increases to our costs.
“I’m going to do my very best to make sure we don’t pass those on to our studio holders, but it will largely depend on whether we can find some support to help us.”
The pandemic already saw bosses seek outside funding for the first time, from the Foyle Foundation and Garfield Western Foundation. Jo said more would be needed this year to make the figures work.
“My ambition is that in two years we won’t be relying on any sort of trust, foundation or public funding in order to operate as a centre for craft, but we would be looking for funding to run programmes with the community,” she said.
Jo is hoping to forge relationships with companies in Canary Wharf and beyond to help spread its work further into the Island.
“Craft Central isn’t just about the building – it’s going to be really important to take the brand beyond that,” she said.
“I’m trying to find as many places to connect to as I can, locally and more widely. I’ve inherited a really fantastic team and we’re looking forward to the future.
“For a while its been head-down, let’s hold this together and the team did a fantastic job of that. Going forward, it’s our ambition to be much more embedded in the community.
“Ways we can work with residents and local groups is going to be a definite focus.”
Jo already plans to register Craft Central as an Arts Awards venue to help broaden its work with young people.
“I think it’s really important that we engage with children,” she said.
“Craft isn’t taught so much in schools any more and I think a part of what we can offer is a window into another world for young people.
“We want to work more with older people, because the motor skills associated with craft are a recognized benefit in ageing as well.
“There are so many benefits associated with art of any type, but particularly in craft. It connects you to yourself.”
Craft Central’s makers work in a wide range of different areas
It wasn’t so very long ago that there wasn’t really much to visit Wood Wharf for. Those days of promissory hoardings are long gone.
MMy Wood Wharf is finding its feet, complete with a basement jazz club, Emilia’s Crafted Pasta is well established as a place for generous bowls and Hawksmoor continues to be a lunchtime hit, ably assisted by arguably one of the best bars on the Wharf – The Lowback – beneath.
But those are just for starters. Patty&Bun, a chain so hip all its melons are twisted, is serving decent drippy burgers on Park Drive and recently launched hotel Tribe has opened its doors as the first place for visitors to stay actually on the Canary Wharf estate.
Its bar and restaurant, which also acts as a workspace, is the optimistically named Feels Like June – a moniker that is entirely appropriate for a heatwave but that might be more a reach in, say, January.
For restaurant manager, Juan Esquivel, the name is more about the warmth of welcome his team and the hotel aim to extend to visitors and guests.
“First of all, we are casual – you won’t find us in suits,” he said.
“We want people to feel like they are on holiday when they come here and we don’t want people staying with us at Tribe in their rooms, we want them here.
“The social hub is the lobby and there’s a salad bar and a grab-and-go coffee shop.
Feels Like June manager Juan Esquivel
“But Feels Like June also works as a standalone restaurant. It’s inspired by California both in what we serve, but also by the state’s summer vibe.
“I think the designers have done a really good job – you won’t find a normal linear restaurant here.
“It’s more relaxed, like a lounge, so people can sit with a drink and a book or do some work on a laptop.
“We want this place to be for everybody – an approachable product with great service – a place where Wood Wharf’s residents can meet holidaymakers, Canary Wharf workers and the hotel’s guests.
“The name isn’t about the weather, it’s about the warmth we bring to our guests. The seasons may change, but here you will get that same summery feel – always welcoming.”
Originally from Argentina, Juan has worked in Mexico, Spain and London, most recently for six months at Gaucho.
“I’ve always worked for luxury brands and, for me, coming here was about asking why we can’t bring that level of service and product to a wider audience,” he said.
“Tribe is part of Ennismore (which recently merged with hospitality giant Accor), and we are really proud to be the first hotel on the Canary Wharf estate.
“As a brand it’s a new concept and this is the first in the UK – the flagship for all of the openings around the world.”
Open all day with options for breakfast, lunch and dinner, food and drink-wise, Feels Like June promises diners dishes that prioritise health and natural ingredients.
“Personally I love the sea bass, which comes with herb butter and lemon curd,” said Juan. “It’s very tasty and the steaks are good as well.
“All of our desserts are gluten-free and we do things like a banana split because that’s something fun to share – we have a lot of families at the weekend so it works for kids as well.
Food at Feels Like June
“We also have a caramelised pineapple dish with mango sorbet, which is very summery and has rum in it so there are lots of tropical flavours.
“At the bar we are looking to have lots of low alcohol versions of drinks – our versions of classics.
“For example, guests can have our Minimal Colada, a version of a Pina Colada that’s clarified and more summery with coconut rum, banana, pineapple, coconut water and salt.
“The idea is you can have a drink with lunch and be fine to do some work.”
Guests can expect to pay around £13 for a cocktail, while small plates cost between £8 and £17. Main dishes range from £14 to £25 and salads are about £12.
“We’re open for breakfast and we will have a lot of guests from the hotel, but we also have an a la carte menu for our other customers,” said Juan.
“We’ve also just introduced a brunch menu, which we think is going to be very popular at the weekend.
“Feels Like June really brings a different kind of space to Canary Wharf where everyone can find something to enjoy.
“We already have regulars and I really like our staff to engage with our customers and to have conversations with them.
“In turn I think the people who are living here are very happy that more things are opening. Here we want people to always feel that they are welcome.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
One of the regular pillars of the sublime Greenwich + Docklands International Festival (GDIF) will once again take over Canary Wharf for a whole weekend, filling the estate with free shows for all to enjoy.
Running from 1pm to 6pm on both September 10 and 11, 2022, this year’s outing will see 12 separate companies and artists put on some 22 performances in eight locations.
Consequently, its 2022 iteration offers the familiar opportunity to both explore the estate on a Saturday and Sunday, while catching some very high quality dance in the process.
While it’s worth aiming to see all of the shows – GDIF has a well deserved reputation for giving a platform to artists of the highest quality – there’s a real buzz around one of this year’s pieces.
Sleepwalker is a collaboration between disabled dancer Joe Powell-Main and the Royal Ballet in a story that has almost as many twists and turns as the choreography.
Born in mid-Wales, Joe began dancing aged five, auditioning for the Royal Ballet School’s junior associate programme, travelling to Birmingham to train every Saturday and going on to perform with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
“From there, when I was about 10 years old, I auditioned for the Royal Ballet Lower School in Richmond and gained a place there,” said Joe.
“There were dancers competing for a place from all over the world and they only took a dozen girls and boys each year.
“I studied there for about three and a half years, and I was lucky to perform with the Royal Ballet in Nutcracker.”
But then disaster struck – a period of prolonged growth meant Joe developed problems in his left knee that led to surgery and further complications.
Then he was involved in a serious car accident that left him unable to use his left leg, meaning he had to leave the Royal Ballet School.
“That’s when I acquired my disability,” said Joe. “It was a very tough time. Since I was young, I’d poured my heart into dancing.
“My parents had supported me and taken me everywhere. I’d put all my eggs in one basket, and having the rug pulled from under me like that at 14 was not a nice thing.
“What was difficult for me as a child and as a teenager was that I had been very active.
“Then there I was, in a place where I was having difficulty with my physical mobility – it was difficult for me to see what I could do with my life.”
It took some time, but Joe found his way back to dance.
His mother spotted some classes for wheelchair users on a trip to see his ballet teacher sister perform and, although they were in Manchester, the family made things work.
He spent a few years dancing Latin and ballroom, going on to win competitions before embarking on a performing arts course at college, initially in musical theatre before switching to dance with the encouragement of his teachers.
A degree in dance and performance at the Arden School Of Theatre in Manchester followed during which time he was making efforts to connect with ballet dancers with disabilities on social media.
These endeavours led him to connect with Ballet Cymru in Wales where he first attended a summer school, gained acceptance as an apprentice and joined the main company in 2020.
Joe and Isabel Lubach will perform Sleepwalker four times over two days
“Because of lockdown, it was a year of waiting, but in 2021 things started opening up and we did some performances of Giselle,” said Joe.
“Then someone reached out to me from the National Lottery to be a part of the ParalympicsGB Homecoming ceremony.
“They also made the decision that it would be cool to reach out to the Royal Ballet, given my connection with them previously and we did a performance last September at Wembley Arena.
“That’s how I became the first dancer in a wheelchair and on crutches to perform with the Royal Ballet and returned to that connection.
“I was asked if I would be interested in doing something for GDIF this year – another collaboration with a company – and luckily the Royal Ballet were really interested in keeping contact going between us and seeing what was possible.”
That has led to Sleepwalker, a piece directed by Royal Ballet principal dancer Alexander Campbell, which explores themes from George Balanchine’s ballet La Sonnambula.
“It’s something people haven’t seen before,” said Joe.
“We started the process of creating the 10-minute piece in March with some research and development. I think there’s a perception, especially with classical ballet that dancers make everything look easy but one of the beauties of this duet is that we’re not afraid of showing the work that’s going on
“I think the audience will have an expectation of what’s coming next, but they really won’t know. Also, because people will be all around us, everyone will view it slightly differently and that’s exciting as well.”
While he acknowledges that his childhood classical training prior to acquiring his disability puts him in an unusual position, Joe hopes his performances and career will serve to inspire companies to embrace greater diversity in the dancers they work with and the programmes they develop, not least so more people can enjoy the benefits of performance.
“While rehearsing, outside of performing, I would classify myself as quite shy,” he said.
“I don’t know what happens but when the music comes on and I’m on stage I gain confidence from somewhere.
“I’m not sure where that comes from, but it’s very enjoyable.
“What’s most important to me is the sound of the music I’m performing to.
“You can explore the choreography, but when it all comes together, that’s the most exciting thing.
“In front of an audience I’m not the world’s most confident public speaker, but when I’m dancing I can express things through movement – you don’t need words.
“Even if it’s a piece you know well it feels new every time you perform.
“It might be finding something different in the venue or in the movements and I find that really interesting.
“I’ve not been to Canary Wharf before but I’ve seen pictures and I think performing the piece outside will be a big change with people all around us.
“I hope that our audiences for Sleepwalker will have their perceptions of what a classical ballet dancer might look like challenged.
“I also hope they seek out opportunities to see more dancers like me.
“I hope companies will also be more willing to bring disability and classical ballet together – if we can keep an open dialogue, we can tackle anything.”
Sleepwalker will be presented at 1.35pm and 3.55pm on both days of Dancing City at Canary Wharf’s Columbus Courtyard.
DELIVERING THE FESTIVAL
GDIF artistic director Bradley Hemmings
“As always, for Dancing City, we like to make a virtue of the stunning outdoor spaces, piazzas and waterfronts which characterise Canary Wharf,” said GDIF artistic director Bradley Hemmings.
“We’ll be down at Jubilee Plaza, Westferry Circus and Wren Landing, but we’re also trying to explore more spaces on the estate than we have in the past so there will be events at Crossrail Place and at Harbour Quay Gardens at Wood Wharf.
“It’s an event where you can imagine you’re in a European city with all the squares and open spaces – that’s the spirit of it.
“We all know Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, with their wonderful street cultures and that’s what this part of the festival does for east London.
“This year we have a range of fantastic shows on offer including Migrare by Cia Maduixa, which is presented entirely on stilts as four migrant women fight for a new place to call home.
“Then there’s Four Seasons at Westferry Circus by James Wilton Dance with capoeira, acrobatics, martial arts and classical dance all set to music by Vivaldi.
“There’s new work from the hip hop company AndroidX + MHz called Crowd_Ctrl.
“This integrates movement with a projection screen behind, which will be like watching a choreographed graphic novel at Jubilee Plaza.
“That’s a London premiere. And there are so many other things besides.
“We’re so pleased to be supported by Canary Wharf to fill the estate with companies from the UK and overseas again for 2022.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Read the comments of its students below and the secret to the recent success of New City College’s Attlee A Level Academy becomes obvious.
Young people clearly relish the teaching they receive and the environment provided for them to learn in.
Located on the eastern side of leafy Arbour Square, just off Commercial Road and round the corner from Troxy, the academy occupies the fine Edwardian building that once housed Raine’s School.
Most recently rebranded with the blessing of former prime minister Clement Attlee’s family in 2018, in 2022 it achieved record-breaking figures with a 15% rise in A Level pass rates and a 12% increase in students awarded higher grades over the last four years.
In total, 125 students achieved 371 A Levels between them.
“We’re really, really pleased with the results,” said Janet Smith, New City College principal with responsibility for A Levels across its operation.
“Attlee was formed by merging provision that was in Tower Hamlets and Hackney at this site – that started a journey of pulling it all together and really improving things.
“Then we got caught up in the pandemic with students getting centre-assessed grades, but these results really validate the work we’ve been doing to build high quality provision.
“Since that pre-pandemic merger, we’ve improved by 15% and that starts to establish us as a high-performing centre for Tower Hamlets.
“We offer the widest range of A Levels in the borough – it’s a great selection – and we’re particularly good at the sciences and helping the progression of our students into university to study courses such as medicine.
New City College principal Janet Smith
“During the pandemic, the whole senior leadership team got involved to make sure we weren’t just inflating grades, that what we were doing was valid and we can now go on with the confidence that we avoided doing that.
“We’re particularly pleased that we’ve got 11 subjects here where all of the students who took the exam passed – that’s quite phenomenal.
“These are tricky subjects – business studies, politics, physics, media studies, psychology and sociology – and really significant numbers of high grades.”
Group principal and CEO at New City College, Gerry McDonald, said while many colleges no longer offered A Levels due to the “hard, competitive” nature of the market, Attlee had been created to focus on the student experience to ensure the academy continued to be seen as a first choice for students as opposed to staying on in school sixth forms.
“These results show we made the right decision to create the academy,” he said.
“We have a broad, broad offer with subjects like classical civilisation, which you wouldn’t find in a school, but also fantastic links to universities such as Queen Mary.
“Our teachers are mostly A Level specialists – they understand the syllabuses really well and some have been involved in developing them and are examiners too, so they understand how to support our students. Now our focus is on helping them achieve those higher grades.”
Gerry McDonald is group principal and CEO of New City College
Janet said the attraction for those looking to study at Attlee was two-fold.
“There’s the academic side with a breadth of offer and lots of other students, so people can really learn from each other,” she said.
“You might be in a group of 20 and that’s a really rich cohort to work with.
“Then we have very strong links with industry so we offer internships and programmes that may not be what students would be able to get in a school.”
Gerry added: “There’s also the maturity of environment. Our students won’t get the sort of support they have at a school when they go to university.
“Coming to Attlee helps them prepare for that by making them more resilient, independent learners, while also allowing them to mix with different groups of people, rather than moving up with their Year 11 cohort.
“Helping our students progress is a really important part of what we do and, because Attlee is part of a large college, there’s a wealth resource that we can draw on in terms of teaching.
“As staff, we work hard to develop our teaching skills – all of the senior team still do some teaching – and our expectation is that teachers understand that they are role models. It’s about the enthusiasm we have for our subjects, not just about the exam, but developing those broader interests in our students. That’s what our passion is.”
Enrolment for the latest cohort of Year 12 students at Attlee A Level Academy runs until September 3, 2022.
New City College operates across nine campuses in east London including facilities in Hackney, Epping Forest, Havering, Rainham, Redbridge and Illford.
CASE STUDIES: NEW CITY COLLEGE
Naima moved to New City College from George Green’s School
Naima El Hallili Kintlerova
Law A, History B, Psychology B
Future – Naima has a place at Royal Holloway University Of London to study history
Isle Of Dogs resident Naima was a pupil at George Green’s School before joining New City College’s Attlee A Level Academy to take her studies further after taking her GCSEs.
She said: “I was looking at colleges and this place just came up. I liked that it was local, so I went to an open day. I liked how friendly the teachers were, how they made me feel at ease.
“They have an open-door policy here so if you have a question, you can just go into the staff room and ask.
“It’s not formal, you don’t have to call the teachers miss or sir – it’s all on a first name basis and I liked that.
“I enjoyed coming to college more than school because you have that rapport with the teachers – it’s more like a community and it’s very supportive.
“I never used to be as confident as I am now with things like speaking in public – coming to this college has allowed me to make new friends, be comfortable with myself and speak up.
“I feel a lot of my confidence is because I came here and met a lot of people from different countries and cultures.
“The college gives you a lot of opportunities – you get to work at the academy, get paid and have access to internships.
“I had one with a bank and now I have a mentor who is there for the next few years to help me with things like writing a CV.
“Even from GCSE level I’ve liked history. I thought about doing law at university for a second, but you can always take a legal route later on.
“At college my history teacher was really kind and made the lessons really interesting.
“He was so helpful with exams and coursework and in the end it’s all paid off because I got a place at Royal Holloway.
“I’ve thought about becoming a historian, maybe doing a masters and a PhD, but I still have a few years to decide.”
Geovanny studied at New City College between ages 14 and 18
Geovanny Rodriguez
Business A, Psychology A, English Lit B
Geovanny has a place at the University Of St Andrew’s in Scotland to study economics and management
North London resident Geovanny has had a less typical route into studying A Levels at New City College, having joined the institution aged 14 pretty much unable to speak English.
He said: “I’m originally from Colombia, but I moved to Spain when I was about 13, then I stayed there for a year and then came to the UK.
“ First I attended the college’s section for those aged 14-16 who don’t know how to speak English.
“Then I came to the Attlee A Level Academy and now I’m going on to study economics and management at St Andrews.
“I chose it because it’s a really good university and I liked the experience of going to Scotland.
“Unlike Naima I don’t have a passion for a subject like history, but studying business is good because it opens doors.
“My idea is to have a stable income and also to do my own thing with photography and clothes.
“Studying at New City College has been great.
“At first I didn’t really know anyone but then I found friends and I had a really good connection with the teachers.
“The college also allowed me to run a pop-up shop and I donated 20% of the proceeds to charity.
“I take pictures of the things I like, not focusing on anything specific, just weird things I see as I go round.
“I’d definitely recommend the college as a place to study. It’s more like a community than a college because everyone knows each other.
“While I live in North London, it’s totally worth the commute here to find supportive and helpful teachers – they were always there when I needed anything.
“It’s also good to come to a completely different area to the place that you live and to have that contrast to your life at home.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Did you know there are 180 islands in the River Thames? That’s 180 mysterious pockets of land most of us will never set foot on.
If your interest has been piqued, you’re in good company, because I was enthralled when photographer Jonathan Goldberg began to tell me of his journey into the unknown.
He has visited 65 islands over the last four years for his series Estuary Hopes, Upstream Dreams, which captures life on their shores including an abandoned torpedo factory and an artists commune.
“I’ve always been fascinated by islands in general, and my projects are often based around my backyard,” said the Willesden Green resident.
“Other photographers might want to go to exotic locations and travel far, but that leaves a big carbon footprint and there’s so much on your doorstep you might not know about.
One of Jonathan’s images of Taggs Island
“The Thames islands are every bit as intriguing as the more publicised locations precisely because they lie under the radar.
“I’m always quite fascinated by things that are seemingly so close yet a little bit hidden.”
He will be sharing details of his journey at St Katharine Docks this summer as part of the Classic Boat Festival, which in turn is part of the Totally Thames Festival.
The 49-year-old will be discussing his work with author and journalist Sasha Arms, whose book, Carl Goes London Islands informed his travels.
Some photographers do not have a predilection for verbosity and there is an argument that art should not be explained.
But Jonathan gallantly attempted to answer my questions about his travels, which he said gave him a greater awareness of the layers of history and many quirks to be found along the river.
His first stop was Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, one of 60 inhabited blobs of land in the Thames.
One of Jonathan’s Eel Pie Island images
“People of a certain age tend to know about it because it’s got a very colourful history,” he said.
“In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a venue where a lot of the big music performers of the day played – The Who, Pink Floyd and David Bowie.
“It’s sort of private now, but it’s home to a lot of artists’ studios and they have an open day twice a year, so I went in the summer and it piqued my curiosity.”
He took the easier road (or waterway) next, travelling to the islands that are designated parkland or open to the public.
“I fixed on the people who frequented the islands and tried to find interesting and diverse characters and the everyday goings on,” he said.
One of his favourite discoveries was Tagg’s Island near Hampton.
“It’s quite exotic-looking because the landscape gardener has planted numerous plants and there’s a lagoon in the middle of the island,” he said.
“All around it are these houses which look really interesting because they are technically houseboats but never move – they are moored permanently.
“Something about the architecture is really ornate and quirky.”
The softly spoken photographer, who started his career on newspapers such as the Hendon Times and the Ham And High in the 1990s, was mostly welcomed ashore.
But he recalls one island that “looked like an 1980s housing estate” where his subjects were extremely reticent about appearing in front of the lens and all but escorted him back to the river after 30 minutes.
In contrast, he has spent “too much time” on Canvey Island and some of its most easterly neighbours.
One of Jonathan’s images of Lots Ait
Jonathan said: “Sheppey is one of my favourite places to photograph because it feels rather like the end of the world and is a bit weird with loads of diverse things going on – an industrial corner, a nudist beach, a tacky holiday resort and a nature reserve.”
The furthest west he has been is Osney, near Oxford, and Fry’s Island near Reading, which is almost entirely given over to the Island Bohemian Bowls Club.
He has plans to explore that area further, ahead of an exhibition in Henley next year which will showcase part two of the project.
“I’ll keep going because there are some islands that really interest me and I want to represent a few other facets of island life in my photos,” he said.
However, there are some islands he knows he will probably never get to set foot on.
“Magna Carta Island, which was where the Magna Carta was signed, has just one big mansion that’s owned by a private individual.
“I don’t feel like I’m going to get a chance to photograph that,” he said.
While that piece of history has been allowed to slip away from public view, others like Platt’s Eyot have benefited from their remoteness.
“It’s home to an enormous warehouse and used to be where World War Two torpedoes were constructed,” said Jonathan.
“It’s semi-derelict but preserved, so they’re not allowed to knock it down.
“I think that if this warehouse had been on the mainland it might have been demolished for housing.”
This project follows his series The Runway Stops Here, which documented a different kind of island – an ecological one.
He spent five years visiting and photographing Grow Heathrow – a sustainable community living entirely off-grid in protest at the proposed expansion of the airport.
One of Jonathan’s images of Trowlock Island
“I would sit around the campfire, help out, make food and that played quite a formative role in my life,” he said.
“It was really great to hang out with a lot of people who were really committed to environmental protest and living sustainably.”
Jonathan said he is often lured by the siren call of the islands to make his own escape from mainstream society.
“I often get a real yearning to snap up a property and think it would be lovely to live there,” he said. “But then again, there are practicalities that need to be considered.
“Some have flooding issues, some you have to get a boat to and, in the winter, they’re not as appealing.”
For now, he’s happy to document these snippets of land that are imbued with so much history and encourage others to look more closely at the landscape around them.
“Hopefully, my pictures will encourage people to seek out places that are surrounded by nature and wildlife, look around more and have a greater interest in the natural world in the immediate vicinity,” he said.
“The islands are a really great place to be a bit more at one with nature because, with water all around, you are, by definition, surrounded by nature.
“You get an amplified sense of the changing seasons and time of day and beautiful sunsets and sunrises – a feeling of tranquillity.”
Thames Islands: Presentation and Discussion is set to take place on September 10 from 3pm-4.30pm. Entry is free.
A free exhibition of Estuary Hopes, Upstream Dreams will be held throughout September at Watermans Arts Centre, Brentford.
The Classic Boat Festival at St Katharine Docks
EVENTS + TALKS AT THE CLASSIC BOAT FESTIVAL
The free three-day boating extravaganza returns with around 40 vintage and preserved vessels assembling in the central basin of St Katharine Docks.
They will include the Dunkirk Little Ships, Bates Starcraft and other working vessels. Visitors will be able to board some of them and meet their owners.
The festival is set to run September 9-11 in the afternoon (3pm-5.30pm) on the Friday, and from 11am-6pm on the Saturday and 11am-5pm on the Sunday.
The opening and closing will be marked each day with a salute of horns.
There will also be food stalls, entertainment, nautical goods and services available on Marble Quay. Talks will be held on the SKD events platform and include:
Tom Cunliffe – Fri, 4pm
The Queen’s Row Barge Gloriana – Sat, noon
The history of St Katherine Docks with Dr Oliver Ayers – Sat, 1.30pm
