Stratford Archives - Wharf Life

June 13, 2024June 29, 2024

East Bank director Tamsin Ace on collaboration at Stratford campus

How Sadler’s Wells East, London College Of Fashion, UCL East, BBC Music Studios and V&A East are coming together at the cultural hub

Image shows Tamsin Ace, a woman with curly blonde hair in a black denim jacket in front of buildings at Stratford's East Bank — East Bank director Tamsin Ace

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East Bank is, arguably, the final great piece in Stratford’s Olympic legacy jigsaw.

Comprising significant bases for five totemic institutions, it’s set to be fully open by the end of 2025 – 13 years after the 2012 Games put east London in the global spotlight.

Building on the successes of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – including all the former sports venues and the extensive residential and commercial regeneration that has taken place locally – East Bank delivers something different for the area.

Even if just one of the London College Of Fashion, the V&A, the BBC, Sadler’s Wells and UCL had chosen to create a new base in Stratford, it would have been seen as a triumph for the architects of the Games.

That all five are committed to the project gives East Bank a kind of cultural and educational heft that hasn’t been seen in the capital for decades.

With four of the organisations sitting proudly overlooking the park on the edge of the River Lea and UCL a short walk away, the concentration of is palpably powerful.

Image shows a sculpture of the Earth hanging inside a large concrete atrium at UCL East on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park — UCL East is now fully up and running

greater than the sum: East Bank

There’s a wealth of potential for collaboration and interaction between the five, but the project isn’t leaving things to chance and happenstance.

Tamsin Ace arrived as director of East Bank in September last year – more or less at the same time the London College Of Fashion began welcoming staff, students and visitors to its new campus.

With UCL East also fully open and Sadler’s Wells East set to launch later this year, it’s her job to help maximise interaction between the organisations for the benefit of all – cementing the cultural legacy of the Games.

“My role is to support and enable all these institutions to come together and to make sure they build on each other’s ideas and resources, while also thinking about how they can connect better,” she said.

“It’s a gift, because all of these partners want to be here and to connect.

“They all want to put down roots and have a home in east London, to listen and learn from the amazing heritage and history of the creative communities that have been in this area long before East Bank was even a twinkle in London’s eye.

“To do that I have the full support of the project’s board, which is made up of the principals of the five main partners.

“I’ve got a pass to all of the buildings so I can work from any of them and also understand their programmes and the different ways they work.

“We have creative working groups to discuss opportunities and plans, so my job is to have my ear to the ground, to know what everyone’s thinking and planning.

“It’s also to be out in the community, being really visible, talking to people and hearing what their priorities are so I can help create links.”

Image shows a computer generated picture of the London College Of Fashion, V&A East, BBC Music Studios and Sadler's Well's East at East Bank — An artist’s impression of how East Bank will look when work is finished

cultural programming

Having studied drama at university, Tamsin initially headed for the classroom after realising that acting and “being a Spice Girl” weren’t really for her.

But life as a teacher wasn’t right either and she wound up working for small arts centres instead.

“I was engaging with children and young people and through that found out about this kind of role – developing ways to get different audiences involved and to unlock and learn from their creativity,” she said.

“I love it when the magic comes together and something you hadn’t thought possible is created.”

After more than a decade doing just that at the Southbank Centre – “implementing festival methodology to create the feel of a bustling port city at arts venues by programming around central themes” – and roles at the Museum Of The Home in Shoreditch and at the London College Of Fashion, she’s come to East Bank to help fulfil its 2012 legacy promise.

“All five of our institutions have got public-facing programmes and my job is to connect the dots,” she said.

“We’re all talking all the time. It’s about collaboration, sharing resources and ideas, and it’s also about embedding ourselves in the community.

“It’s also about being open with our priorities and aims, and properly connecting with people who are living and working here.

“Over the last seven years, the organisations have all been building links with key partners such as schools to build programmes that respond to the needs and values of the people locally.

“Ultimately, we want visitors, students and staff to be able to navigate East Bank’s five buildings and understand how they connect to each other.

“In 10 years’ time I would love to see large-scale programming across all of the organisations that builds on their amazing creativity and skills.”

Image shows a curved concrete staircase at the London College Of Fashion in Stratford — Students and staff are already enjoying the London College Of Fashion’s new base

a new hub for creativity

“I think this place can be as successful as the Southbank Centre – there will be enough for everyone here – but I think they are two very different offers,” added Tamsin.

“There’s a magic about coming to this part of the city with its busy, bustling shopping experience at Westfield and then East Bank for culture and creativity.

“I think if we get the local story right and have a programme that is relevant to the community then we’ll get the world right too.

“Tourists will come because they want to feel they are part of events that really do mean something.”

While University College London and the London College Of Fashion are up and running, something of a watershed moment is coming for the project with the opening of Sadler’s Wells East later this year.

“That will be the first of our cultural partners to have an offering as part of the night-time economy and it will be really exciting to see how the evening shows and workshops change this space,” said Tamsin.

“Sadler’s Wells has also got its hip-hop academy opening, so we’ll have 16 to 19-year-olds learning and practising on-site.

“The building has been designed with an outside and inside feel, so we’re hoping people will get the idea of dance tumbling out into the public realm and people will come to see the next generation of dancers performing or warming up.

“I’m really excited about this summer because this is the time we’re really starting to build that excitement and buzz – that East Bank is a place you can come and bump into amazing art and ideas.

“It’s a bit of a taster of what’s to come as we build and grow towards total opening by the end of 2025.

“It’s exhilarating and I can’t wait to see how it feels when all five organisations are open.

“You might be walking from UCL over to the Stratford waterfront and know you’ve got a BBC orchestra rehearsing in one of the studios, a big exhibition at V&A East, dancers performing on the community dance floor outside Sadler’s Wells East and a fashion show being cooked up at the London College Of Fashion.

“I want everyone who comes here to feel that same sense of excitement and pride we all felt around the 2012 Games themselves.”

Image shows a dancer dressed in black interacting with a staircase ahead of Greenwich + Docklands International Festival in Septemeber — Greenwich + Docklands International Festival is set to come to Stratford in 2024

coming up at East Bank

This summer is when things really start to happen at East Bank in 2024.

Activities kick off with the Great Get Together on June 15 – a free community event at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with activities spanning music, dance, arts, sports and, naturally food.

Then, there’s the UCL Festival Of Engineering on July 15, a celebration of 150 years of advancements in technology, problem solving and creating things.

July will also see London College Of Fashion students present their work, with an exhibition at the East Bank campus, while V&A East will unveil its Made In East London commission – artworks that will be displayed on its exterior.

August is all about the hip hop, with breaking sessions at Sadler’s Wells East scheduled for 3, 5-8 and 9-10.

Then, September 7 sees the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival pitch up at neighbouring Stratford Cross with its Dancing City programme.

Find our more about the campus here

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- 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

May 29, 2024May 29, 2024

Eclipso Life Chronicles brings evolution to Westfield Stratford City

Virtual reality experience sees guests transported back in time to meet exotic creatures of the past

An image of four people wearing black virtual reality visors to explore Eclipso Life Chronicles — Visitors don VR headsets to explore Eclipso Life Chronicles

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Eclipso has unveiled Life Chronicles, the latest virtual reality presentation to arrive at its Westfield Stratford City facility.

The experience is a collaboration with content producer Excurio and the Museum D’Histoire Naturelle of France, takes visitors on a time-travelling romp from the first creatures in the primordial soup to the emergence of early humans.

It’s the second immersive experience to play at the east London facility and is now running concurrently with pyramid exploration adventure Horizon Of Khufu.

Lasting 45 minutes, Life Chronicles sees participants don VR headsets to pursue a robot guide called Darwin and scientist Charlie as they travel through 3.5billion years of evolution on a quest to return to the present.

Along the way they both offer snippets of information about the environments and some of the animals encountered.

While the story is linear in nature – a quest to recover lost pieces of tech – the various places presented can be explored freely by visitors, who can get up close with a range of sharply rendered digital flora and fauna.

Images shows a rendering of ghostly humanoid shapes in a forest environment from Life Chronicles — Visitors appear as ghostly shapes, guided by Charlie and Darwin

excited by Eclipso Life Chronicles

“We’ve been super excited about this content coming to London,” said venue director and UK spokesperson for Eclipso Karl Blake-Garcia.

“It’s been a year in the making and it’s a topic that people may not have revisited since they were at school.

“What we find, especially with adults who bring their children, is that they fall in love with the subject all over again.

“What we wanted to do was present these environments so people can have those moments of nostalgia while learning about evolution and dinosaurs when seeing them as if they were standing right there.

“It’s an incredible experience and there’s nowhere else you can do something like this.

“While the most popular part of the experience is probably the Jurassic era, the more obscure moments in Earth’s history are also really appealing to a lot of people because not everybody knows about them.

“Personally, I love entertainment that gives me that ‘wow’ reaction.

Image shows an artist's impression of dinosaurs meeting Triceratops in the VR experience — The experience features and encounter with dinosaurs

finding a favourite

“My favourite part of Life Chronicles is probably walking on the edge of a cliff just after encountering some prehistoric dwarf elephants – that’s very cool.

“But I also love being under the sea and seeing the ancient aquatic life in the oceans swimming past.

“No matter what you’re interested in, there are things that will resonate.

“The experience covers plant and animal life as well as early human history and it’s very important, because the Earth’s past is a really big part of who we are today and why we are the way we are.

“The biggest joy we get at Eclipso is seeing the raw, unfiltered emotion from people leaving the experience.

“With our Egyptian experience, I’ve seen people come out in tears of joy because they’ve got to experience the pyramids.

“VR is like magic – I love that Eclipso is able to create these really beautiful moments for people – it’s touching and amazing to think that all they are doing in reality is walking around an empty space that has some black and white stickers on the wall.

“I can’t wait to see what the reaction will be to Life Chronicles as we see more and more people join us for the experience.”

Images shows an artist's impression of prehistoric sea creatures in the VR world under the ocean — Visitors travel back to the ancient ocean

accessibility at Eclipso Life Chronicles

Eclipso’s VR jaunts are suitable for a wide range of participants including children – although those visiting will need to be able to stand and walk for 45 minutes without a break.

While in the virtual landscape, participants see people in their group as named ghostly outlines, while participants in other groups simply appear as anonymous human shapes (so visitors can avoid bumping into each other).

Real walls appear as bright red grids to prevent the immersed from bumping into them.

This rendering shows microscopic creatures as they appear in Eclipso Life Chronicles — Life Chronicles includes a trip to the primordial soup

tried and tested

While significant efforts have been made to ensure the info imparted by Charlie and robot cube and time travel device Darwin, is historically accurate, the attraction of Life Chronicles is really in its visual chutzpah.

There’s some sort of plot that means it’s necessary to collect techy orbs, strewn throughout our evolutionary past, but the joy is more in the journey, than the destination.

With VR goggles on, a wonderful, if somewhat stylised carousel of worlds unfolds as we ride a trilobite, narrowly miss a collision with an Icthyosaur and get caught in a Mexican stand-off between T-Rex parents and a group of Triceratops.

But as each new location pops into view, there’s an irresistible temptation to simply kneel down and fixate on the subtle textures employed to render a tiny insect or the feathers on a parrot.

While there’s a spot of video game gimmickry as we shrink, grow and fly on imaginary platforms, the real magic comes in simply seeing extinct animals wander out of the undergrowth.

It’s as close as the current tech will currently allow to that burst of excitement when one encounters a real wild animal.

The only frustration I felt was that I couldn’t pick up a tiny prehistoric horse and bring him home – maybe that’s the 4.0 iteration.

Images shows a painting of dwarf elephants as they appear on a cliff edge as part of the experience — Dwarf elephants feature in Eclipso Life Chronicles

need to know

Life Chronicles is currently running at the Eclipso Center at Westfield Stratford City.

The facility is open from 9am at weekends and from 11am on weekdays. Adult tickets start at £21 with tickets for under-18s and concessions costing £18

Find our more about the experience here

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- 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

May 16, 2024May 16, 2024

How The Body People brings fitness to Eastwick And Sweetwater

Muti-purpose venue near Stratford and Hackney Wick is Chloe Redmond’s first movement studio

Chloe Redmond, entrepreneur and owner of The Body People – a young woman with long dreadlocks in a black top in front of a green, gold, black and white geometric wax print fabric — Chloe Redmond, entrepreneur and owner of The Body People

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“The Body People is my baby,” said Chloe Redmond.

“She’s my first experience of owning a studio – a place where I could bring all forms of movement together, fitness, aerial disciplines and dance.

“But I also wanted it to be a space where you can mix and blend – focus on spoken word, photography exhibitions or rehearsals, for example – a place that would be multi-faceted.”

And The Body People in East Wick And Sweetwater – a residential development on the western edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – is just that.

Pale green silks hang neatly braided from the ceiling, squares of wax print fabric in green, gold, white and black hide exercise bikes from view and golden poles run floor-to-ceiling in readiness for forthcoming acrobatics.

Everywhere there’s wood, splashes of colour and foliage.

For studio owner Chloe, it’s a dream made real – the culmination of 14 years working as a dance and fitness instructor in and around her native Walthamstow.

Chloe Redmond, wearing a khaki tracksuit with a crop top raises her hands in a fitness studio while participants practise Pilates movements on the mat — Chloe teaching Pilates at her studio in east London

starting to move

“I’ve always moved,” she said.

“I’m dyslexic and have certain processing disorders that meant I was classed as a dumb person at school. But I was strong and fast.

“I was really fortunate to be supported by my parents and to be able to do everything from gymnastics to athletics and dance.

“I graduated as a filmmaker, but I decided teaching people dance and fitness was what made me feel alive – it took me to another level.

“When I came back from university, I thought I ought to do some dance classes.

“When I couldn’t afford my gym membership any more – they said that they’d heard I taught and that, if I were to teach classes, I’d get access for free.

“So I retrained. I just love seeing people’s eyes come alive when they feel good and experience that confidence.

“Also, you get applause at the end – you don’t get that in every job.”

A woman tries out aerial silks at The Body People. She is wearing a purple top and grasping two lengths of green silk suspended from the roof — The Body People offers a wide range of classes including aerial silks

finding a spot for The Body People

“When you’re just a teacher on your own, running around to other gyms, you’re limited in what you can do,” said Chloe.

“That’s why I started looking for a space.

“I knew I wanted somewhere I could pull communities together, somewhere I could put my unique black woman’s touch on – a place I could make beautiful the way I wanted it.

“But I struggled to find somewhere – I had so many offers rejected in Walthamstow.

“Then this place came up and it made sense, being in the middle of Stratford and Hackney Wick.

“You’ve got the old and the new here, which is important to me – those born to the sound of Bow Bells and people who have moved out of the City.

“It’s really nice to be a part of creating this new community.

“We’ve had a lovely reaction from the local residents who live above and around us.”

A woman practices pole dancing on a brass pole hanging upside down with her hear loose — Pole dancing is available at the Eastwick And Sweetwater venue near Stratford

interior vibes at Eastwick And Sweetwater

Since opening the doors in November, Chloe has unquestionably put her stamp on the place, creating a backdrop packed with personality.

“It’s important to me that people come in and see a well-seasoned place – we have hot sauce in the fridge,” she said.

“I didn’t want it to be bland, sterile or stagnant because that has been my experience in some places.

“It was a concrete shell, and I wanted to keep something of that in the studio.

“But It was also important to me to get my Africa-print fabric from a Nigerian woman in Liverpool Street and to include items such as masks and fans that have been in my family from Ghana or Kenya for years.

“My background is also English and Irish and I wanted a place where people could walk in and feel a black woman’s touch.

“That’s in the textures of the plants and the things I’ve put in here.

“We’ve got boxes and baskets for people’s belongings while they train instead of lockers, to create a woody, earthy feel.

“Then there are bolsters for Yoga made by my mum, Jo Redmond.

“One thing I do know is that when other black women come here there is this connection – a moment of things looking familiar to them.”

A group of people participate in a spin class on exercise bikes at The Body People — The class timetable also includes spin sessions for cardiovascular fitness

building The Body People timetable

At the core of The Body People’s offering is its class timetable, with a wide range of sessions on offer.

“You can be up on the ceiling, down on the floor, on a bike, working out on a mat or moving to music,” said Chloe.

“What you want to do depends on their interests and background.

“Some people may come in and say they’re bored with the gym – that they want something exciting and different and want to do it with a group of people led by an instructor.

“For them, we might recommend the more exotic classes like aerial silks or pole dancing.

“Then there are people who are pregnant or who have just had a baby and want pre or postnatal classes, which we also offer.

“Some people have become die-hards and this studio is now their second home.

“Others just fancy a nice mixture of things like a step class, which is much more dance-like than it was back in the day – a lot less robotic.

“We also offer dancehall and commercial dance for those who want that variety.

“When designing the timetable, I wanted a full spectrum, imagining someone who would be able to come to a class every day and do something different.”

A group of people participate in a step fitness class wearing workout gear and trainers — Step classes are on offer at the venue

living the dream in east London

“I am a very sensitive and emotional person and I feel it’s important to champion more women who are business owners and in touch with a full range of emotions,” said Chloe.

“I’ve had moments where I’ve been in tears – happy and sad – times feeling really chuffed with myself or frustrated with the little things.

vBut I have to keep going – life isn’t perfect.

“There have been some really lovely moments where I’m teaching a Pilates class and thinking that, 14 years ago I started this kind of movement, knew I wanted my own place and now I’m in it and it’s beautiful and lovely.

“For the most part it’s a really happy experience.

“Every morning I walk in and say hello to my baby – the studio – and she speaks back to me when the music plays.

“Everyone who comes in feels they have come into a tranquil space – it just feels safe and inclusive.

“While I don’t have a favourite class – that would change daily – I have had some very special moments teaching Pilates when it’s felt like things have come full circle.

“I remember feeling nervous and anxious in the earliest days of teaching Pilates at my mum’s health practice in Walthamstow, but also that I loved it – supporting others.

“I knew then that I wanted my own place, not just for Pilates, but for dance and fitness too.

“I’d always kept my eye out for spots which were coming up, and teaching here – 14 years later – means I’m getting my dream.

“Now I just want to keep doing what I’m doing.”

An image of The Body People studio which has a brown wooden floor and concrete walls with silks hanging from the ceiling and foliage down the walls — The Body People is a multi-purpose studio space between Stratford and Hackney Wick

need to know – The Body People

The Body People is located in Copper Street at East Wick And Sweetwater and operates a varied timetable over seven days.

Standard single session prices start at £13.

Memberships start at £146 per month, with full gold membership covering all classes in both E20 and Walthamstow is £162 per month.

Find out more about the studio here

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- 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

February 8, 2024February 8, 2024

Stratford: How Awoke Plants is serving up peat-free greenery to east Londoners

Sioḃán Wall’s mini-garden centre can be found at View Tube on the edge of the Olympic Park

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Coincidentally, Sioḃán Wall’s career has consistently featured the earth beneath our feet and the places that we live in.

Having studied German literature at university, she embarked on a career in logistics, working for DHL as it consulted on what to do with all the excavated matter from the forthcoming construction of Crossrail.

A move into project management saw her transfer to Bechtel, directly working on the epic scheme she’d helped plan – shifting millions of tonnes of material, dug out for the Elizabeth Line’s tunnels, to help build Wallasea Island Wild Coast – an RSPB nature reserve covering the Crouch and Roach estuaries in Essex.

Following that, a job in the housing industry beckoned, as head of construction and logistics at Barking Riverside – the vast east London regeneration scheme on the banks of the Thames.

“After nearly four years, I was made redundant and I really wanted to work for myself,” said Sioḃán.

“Awoke Plants is my first little business and I opened it last year.

“My local garden centre – Growing Concerns, on the edge of Victoria Park – had just closed down and I’d been doing community gardening with the local Women’s Institute.

“We were all mutually disappointed by this because we felt there was a need for one. People still wanted to buy plants locally, get advice and enjoy browsing.

“Garden centres aren’t just about plants – you can get everything you need – gifts, cards, pots, tools and accessories.

“Outside London they are often day trip destinations – you get a lovely experience, cake in the cafe and so on. In the capital we miss a bit of that.

“I started Awoke to learn the trade and switch over to gardening.

“I did a future gardeners course, sponsored by the London Legacy Development Corporation, which employs Idvere – a garden maintenance firm.

“That included work experience on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and really introduced me to horticulture as a career.

“It also allowed me to make contacts at Idvere, so I continue to work part-time for them – this winter I was out on the park.”

Sioḃán took all that experience and poured it into a small unit at View Tube on The Greenway in Stratford – a community of small businesses, housed in former shipping containers at the edge of the park.

Awoke Plants, in addition to a wide selection of grown specimens, sells seeds, pots, gifts and kids’ kits – pretty much anything the urban gardener might want available online or in person.

Awoke Plants boasts an extensive array of plants, products and gifts

Reopening its doors in March, the business sells troughs, baskets and upcylced containers of plants – all of which have been grown without peat.

“It’s a natural resource that can’t be replaced in our lifetimes,” said Sioḃán.

“It takes hundreds of thousands of years to make – it’s essentially rotted down mosses, leaves, vegetation and trees, that lived millions of years ago and decayed to form bogs, moorland or fens.

“For centuries humans have been draining the land, drying out the peat and digging it up to use in horticulture.

vBy doing this we’re taking something that absorbs and holds carbon and releasing it.

“It’s currently hard to find plants which have been grown entirely without peat, but that’s what we offer here.

“And there are great alternatives. I’m using a mix of coia, which is chopped up bits of coconut husk, worm castings for nutrients, sand or grit and compost.

“All of these hold moisture and micro-nutrients, which help support a healthy root structure and growth period.

“In this area, gardening is all about how to decorate our small gardens and balconies with as much attention as we would give to our kitchens, dining rooms or bedrooms.

“There’s so much you can do. You can grow food, flowers or exotic plants in small spaces.

“The key elements are making sure you’ve got a container which will fit in the space and some light.

“Then, you just need to remember to water, feed and look after the quality of the soil.

“We can also fill our homes with houseplants.

“I’d like to encourage people to experiment. Some species will work on widow sills, for example.

“If you’re thinking of growing vegetables, then summer leaves, micro-greens – seedling salad leaves, bean shoots and so on – only need to grow to one or two inches before they’re ready to harvest – they’re a really quick turnaround for salads and are packed with nutrition.

“They can be the most expensive things to buy in a supermarket, and they’re so easy to grow.

“If you do have some outdoor space, even if it’s small or north-facing, think about having flower boxes on the railings, or use a corner to do a rockery-type garden – a container with sedum or mosses, and low-growing plants that love shade.

“All of this is possible in London.

This potted specimen costs £9.99 at Awoke

“Not only do plants give you something to look at, they can be used to screen you off from tall buildings and they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen.

“They’re also generally good for your mental health and wellbeing.”

Sioḃán has big plans for her small garden centre, including expanding to a bigger site when the time is right.

“It was really exciting to open last year and it’s evolved since then,” she said.

“Once I’d got myself into the mindset, with my children now at school, I thought that I should just go for it.

“Working for myself, the only limit is my self-belief in how far I can go.

“I really want to make my business meaningful for this area – there’s a lot of possibility and a lot of growth potential.”

Watch this space.

Awoke Plants reopens to the public in March, 2024. In the meantime, orders can be collected from the garden centre or Bridget’s Cafe in E20. Bike delivery options are also available in selected east London postcodes for a fee of £5.

Find out more about Awoke Plants here

Awoke Plants is based at View Tube near Pudding Mill Lane DLR

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- 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

November 2, 2023November 2, 2023

Stratford: How London College Of Fashion is opening itself up to the community

UAL’s East Bank campus hosts Designed For Life exhibition showcasing fashion as a force for positive change

The Decolonising Fashion And Textiles Project, part of the Designed For Life exhibition at the London College Of Fashion

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Even partially open, the enormity of East Bank cannot be overstated.

Its buildings on the edge of the River Lea may appear compact when viewed crossing the water from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

But this is largely an optical illusion due to the sheer scale of Stratford – the towering structures of International Quarter London and similar behind.

But, if the physical space afforded to the likes of the BBC Music Studios, V&A East and Sadler’s Wells East is considerable, then the cultural, economic and psychological impact on Newham and the surrounding area is greater still.

Tom Daley splashing into the pool at the London Aquatics Centre and West Ham kicking a small round inflatable about may be sporting legacies of the 2012 Olympic Games.

But their true legacy – more than a decade later – is in the regeneration of the area and the prosperity this will bring in the long term.

How many students will walk through the doors of UCL East (part of East Bank, albeit located on the other side of the river)?

How many dancers will tread the boards at Sadler’s Wells’ new venue?

What music will be played for the BBC?

What sights will be seen at the V&A?

How many lives will now be enriched and shaped by what goes on in these buildings in a part of London that 15 years ago looked very different?

These are tantalising questions with thrilling answers that will undoubtedly shape Stratford in the years and decades to come.

Heartening then, that the first of the gang to open at the main cluster is already making significant early efforts to use its space for good.

Designed For Life is displayed over five publicly accessible parts of LCF

University Of The Arts London has consolidated the London College Of Fashion (LCF) at East Bank in a purpose-built tower, which opened earlier this year.

One of its first acts has been to fill five of the publicly accessible areas of the building with Designed For Life, an exhibition featuring textiles, design, film, photography, artefacts, personal testimonies and community building intended to showcase “the transformative power of creative action in shaping our world”.

Suffice to say, there’s a lot going on.

There’s a dress made from a decommissioned refugee tent, an interactive living room reflecting the lives of people in east London, a cloth dragon in a trenchcoat, textile artworks created by migrants together with fabric portraits of them and much more.

Far too much, in fact, for this article to do the whole thing justice. However, the feel of Designed For Life is very much of using LCF as a platform to tell stories from the area – bringing people who might not usually be represented in such a building inside and putting them centre stage.

It makes sense, then, to focus on just one part of the exhibition and dig a little deeper into what visitors can expect to find among the swirling cast concrete staircases of the latest addition to Stratford’s educational scene.

Head down a level from the entrance and you’ll find items and a short film showcasing UAL’s Decolonising Fashion And Textiles Project.

Dr Francesco Mazzarella, senior lecturer at LCF’s Centre For Sustainable Fashion, who is leading the initiative said: “The project runs for two years and has received funding from the Arts And Humanities Research Council.

“First I did some ethnography to immerse myself in the context – the three boroughs we are concentrating on – which are Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.

“I wanted to understand the needs and aspirations of the local communities there.

“Then we did storytelling sessions with participants who are refugees or asylum seekers based in London.

“The stories were of identity, cultural heritage and migration – but also the participants’ skills, needs and aspirations.

“In the sessions we were asking them to bring clothes, textiles and objects that meant something to them.

“We are very mindful that refugees are often interviewed, investigated or monitored, so we didn’t want to do a study of them.

“Instead, as a team we all took part by bringing our own objects as a way to share each other’s lives and also build empathy.

“People coming to view Designed For Life will see more than 40 artworks created by participants and ourselves with statements written to express our feelings.

A migrant himself, Francesco created his own artwork alongside workshop participants, including fabrics to remind him of Brazil, Holland, South Africa and Italy

“It’s really a celebration of the untold stories of refugees – which are often overlooked – with the exhibition aiming to shift negative or dominant narratives to show how people can bring their skills and talents to a local community and economy.”

Francesco worked with local photographer JC Candanedo – a Catalan-Panamanian migrant who has a studio in London – to capture images of people taking part in the sessions.

The headshots were then transferred to fabric, with participants using multiple techniques to decorate, embroider and alter them.

Each work has its creator’s statement printed on the reverse so visitors can discover more about the people they are seeing.

“What’s beautiful is that every story is unique and challenges what it means to be a refugee or asylum seeker in London,” said Francesco.

“People come here to escape from war, violence due to religion, gender discrimination or politics.

“What I like is the collective sense of all these stories – it’s bigger than the individual parts.

“The coming together of all of this gives a sense of community and the mutual support which builds for refugees.

“People participated for different reasons.

“Some were interested in fashion and textiles, wanted to learn some skills, or perhaps worked in the industry and are aiming to rebuild their careers here.

“Others just wanted to meet new people and use crafts to enhance their wellbeing – especially those living isolated in hotels in very poor conditions.

“Meeting other people has helped them to rebuild their confidence, and making new connections has helped them to rebuild their lives.

One participant created two artworks during the project, this one during a pilot session

“One participant has two artworks in the exhibition.

“The first was created for a pilot we did last summer.

“It is very dark, with blood coming from the eyes.

“As a researcher I have tools to help people unpack their stories.

“At first she had an identity crisis about her heritage.

“She’s from Singapore and, as a trans woman, she was the victim of rape, and when she reported this to the police, she was blamed for being trans.

“She came here and joined our project.

“At first she didn’t care about fashion or want to pursue a career in fashion.

“She thought it was unreachable and not very inclusive.

“She wanted to wear more western clothes to feel more integrated into society here.

“She has very traumatic memories of her own country and wants deliberately to erase her own past.

“All through this project we tried to highlight something small that she had which could keep her grounded, and she realised that she always wore a necklace given to her by her mum before she left.

“You can see that in her second work.

“She wanted to add some glitter to this artwork as a sense of hope for a brighter future.

“Through this process she met many other people, and now she’s volunteering for several charities and is feeling much more confident.

“You can see here that she has really embraced her gender and identity and is also tapping into different aspects of her culture and heritage by including batik from Indonesia, where her auntie is from, for example.

“In the second piece – called Smiles And Pain – she wants to unpack what it means to be an asylum seeker, where she says that, even if we wear a smile and are resilient, behind that there is a mountain of trauma and pain.

“She also wants to say that everybody wants to be treated with tenderness and deserves love and safety.

“Refugees may not have many material possessions, but they really hold onto their material culture and their heritage.

“Working with vulnerable people, we can’t ask them to tackle the climate emergency from a sustainability point of view– they have more pressing issues socially.

“By plugging into their heritage, however, they can start gaining agency – a voice – and make connections locally that may point to education, employment and entrepreneurship.

“That’s using fashion to drive positive change.”

Remember, this is just one of five displays covering multiple projects at Designed For Life. Set aside an afternoon to explore the exhibition fully.

Designed For Life is free to visit with no booking required.
The exhibits are available to view at LCF at Stratford’s East Bank, 10am-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday and will be in place until January 19, 2024.

Find out more about the exhibition here

Designed For Life features a series of installations including a recreation of a textile worker’s front room

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- 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

September 22, 2023September 22, 2023

Stratford: How Bamboo Mat is bringing Nikkei cuisine to east London

Second site offers fusion of Japanese and Peruvian cooking plus options for a bottomless brunch

Padron peppers with mango miso at Bamboo Mat, £5.50 – image Matt Grasyon

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BY LAURA ENFIELD

You would not expect a Moldovan teenager to know much about Japanese food. But that is where Denis Gobjila’s story starts.

Well, like all of us, it actually started with him as a baby, but we’ll skip to the food part.

Today the 34-year-old is co-owner of Stratford’s Bamboo Mat, a rare London restaurant serving Nikkei food.

The cuisine brings together the clean simplicity of Japanese cuisine with the fiery exuberance of Peruvian food and has developed organically since the late 1800s, when a wave of east Asian immigrants arrived in South America.

“The first time I tried Nikkei it was sour and then boom, flavours in your mouth,” said Denis.

“It was so fresh and I thought: ‘This is the next level of food’.”

Bamboo Mat’s menu includes Padron peppers drizzled with mango miso, grilled octopus paired with lentil mash, crispy chicken thighs coated in anticucho sauce, yellowtail kingfish dotted with yuzu truffle soy and a smorgasboard of sushi, sashimi and nigiri.

Much like these dishes, the venue was created using a fusion of skill, patience and passion.

But it is literally hundreds of miles from where Denis started.

He grew up in Moldova helping his grandparents tend their small farm and baking with his mum.

“I followed my cousin to culinary school and my starting passion was cakes, but now I can do very little and don’t really like pastry flour,” he said.

Enter Japanese cuisine. After training, he got his first job in 2007 at Sushi Studiya in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, and over a period of three years, worked his way up to head chef.

Co-owners Denis Gobjila, left, and Victor Rosca – image Matt Grasyon

On arriving in London he then landed a job as sous chef at Vietnamese restaurant Namo near Victoria Park.

But it was a random interview at a new restaurant opening in Hackney that set his tastebuds ablaze.

“They said Jordan Sclare had created some of the dishes and they were so good I went straight home, googled him and found he was executive chef at Chotto Matte,” said Denis.

“I went there the next day knocking on the door and asking for a job.

“The sushi head chef, Keita Sato, said they didn’t really need anyone but made me an offer for, I think, less than £16,000. I said: ‘No problem’.”

Denis instantly became immersed in the world of Nikkei, learning new skills in cutting fish, cooking rice, preparing vegetables and decoration – all the while refining his techniques in sashimi, sushi and maki.

“They gave me opportunities and I was ordering ingredients all the time and creating dishes,” he said.

It was also here he met his now business partner Victor Rosca who previously worked at Sushisamba, Roka, and Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay.

Denis began creating his own menu in his head, but it would be another five years before he actually got to serve the dishes.

“I got married and, in hospitality, it’s hard to maintain family life, so I left the kitchen for five years and worked in my wife’s accounting company,” he said.

“But the dream was always in my mind because, for me, an office job is boring. I kept looking for something and finally it happened.”

Bamboo Mat in Stratford – image Matt Grasyon

Fate stepped in when a friend’s seafood restaurant in Leyton collapsed after Covid.

“They were very upset and had some outstanding balance to pay to the landlords, so they were going to take that place from them but I quickly stepped in and took it over,” he said.

“I had been looking for something smaller, like a takeaway concept but, when that opportunity came up, we quickly changed our plans and designed the menu.

“I’d had it in my mind for the past five years, so it didn’t take long.”

The venue opened in May 2022 but what they did struggle with was ingredients.

“The fish was the hardest to get because we were looking at central London suppliers and they had never come East before,” said Denis.

“I used to drive to Heathrow Airport to get the fish every three days until finally we got more sales and convinced them to come out this way.”

In fact, the duo had an explosion of popularity overnight, thanks to a few carefully written paragraphs in the summer of 2022.

“Grace Dent’s review in the Guardian changed our lives because after that, it was crazy, crazy,” said Denis.

“In a nine table restaurant, we went from doing a few a night to minimum of 60 covers a day. It was a bit of a shock but very good.

“We believed in the restaurant and knew it would be quite successful, but we definitely didn’t expect it that quick.

“Maybe we deserved it, or maybe we were lucky – I don’t know.”

Sushi and vegetarian ceviche at Bamboo Mat – image Matt Grasyon

Keen to capitalize, by August they had found the Stratford venue and this time they got to design it from scratch.

It is a much bigger space, with room for 68 people inside as well as a 10-seater private dining area and 25 seats outside.

“It is the same concept as Leyton, but because it’s bigger, it has more opportunities in the kitchen so we can create more,” said Denis.

“It’s a good location, green and peaceful and as we are quite young as businesspeople, our budget was not too big because we don’t have any investors.

“We basically made everything here by ourselves or with friends and created it organically with our own hands.”

From the outside, it looks, dare I say it, pleasantly dull.

But inside it is joyous with a neon rope interior created by Peruvian designer Sabastian Salas.

The vivaciously colourful food includes a newly launched bottomless brunch at weekends.

This features signature sushi, seabass ceviche with aji amarillo tiger’s milk, sweet potato, red onion, chancha corn and artichoke tostada with salsa criolla and salsa verde and a brunch special- fluffy pork or nasu (Japanese aubergine) bao buns.

The restaurant opened in December last year with what was supposed to be a soft launch.

“It wasn’t at all soft,” said Denis. “I think we did 250 covers for the first four days. It was really, really hard.

“When you create something, it’s scary because you invest everything and don’t know how people will react – you only know its nice for your own taste.

“When people appreciate the food you feel really positive because people like what you’re doing.

“So it’s enjoyable to get that busy and get crazy shifts, especially because this cuisine is not well know in the industry here.

The restaurant’s interior – image Matt Grasyon

“There aren’t many Nikkei restaurants in London. I think that’s because it’s quite tricky.

“It’s a bit sour, a bit spicy and different flavours but our menu works because it is a good balance.”

There is, however, one dish which is secretly very traditional for Denis. It pays homage to the person who gave him his love of the freshest ingredients.

“We have one salad on the menu inspired by my grandmother,” he said.

“Moldovan cuisine is very different because it is a poor country, so we cooked what we grew in the garden.

“My grandparents had a small farm and, in the summertime, she used to cook Romano peppers on charcoal and it was just amazing – so smoky.

“At Bamboo Mat, we have a fresh salad with cabbage, carrot and beetroot served with a smoked sauce.”

Family is in fact still the driving force for Denis. Many young chefs seem swallowed up by their success and struggle to have a personal life outside work. But the Romford resident is home most days by 5pm.

“I have two kids, a son aged three and a seven-month old daughter and that’s the priority,” he said.

“If you manage everything properly, and it is under control, you can have the free time. Also, my wife is a very, very good woman, very supportive.

“Sometimes she’s mad at me, but I’m trying to make life better for my family, not just for myself.”

I’d call that perfectly balanced fusion.

Find our more about Bamboo Mat here

Lamb chops in anticucho sauce, £18 – image Matt Grasyon

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- 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

September 6, 2023September 6, 2023

Stratford: How Westfield Stratford City puts community and sustainability at its heart

URW head of shopping centre management talks passion and outreach at the east London mall

Katie Wyle of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield – image Matt Grayson

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Katie Wyle never intended to go into retail.

Growing up, she worked in the village shop her parents ran and swore off the sector when she went to university to study English and drama.

“But what do you do as a student? You work in shops,” she said.

“I worked for Tesco, Jigsaw, Disney and more.

“I did a wonderful ski season after university, but then realised I had a loan to pay off so I went to work at Marks And Spencer, initially in the men’s pants and socks department as a Christmas temp.”

It was the start of a journey that would see her rise to deputy manager of the brand’s Bluewater store.

A stint at Fortnum And Mason followed and then Selfridges as assistant store director before she became assistant general manager of Westfield Stratford City in 2014.

Now head of shopping centre management for the whole of the UK at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) – the company that runs the massive malls – her responsibilities include overseeing its east London operation, the busiest in Europe by footfall.

And, despite the pressures of catering for more than 51million visitors each year, she’s smiling.

“It’s just so varied,” she said. “You can come in, have a conversation about toilets, fire safety, Christmas, the community, capital investment or how we’re planning our budget processes for the next five years.

“You have to change your thought processes completely from one meeting to the next and the people we work with are all so genuinely passionate about this business.

“I think everybody should work in retail and hospitality at some point because they give you experience of so many areas.”

The passion of her colleagues is one reason Katie continues to smile throughout our interview.

“Westfield naturally faces problems and challenges, as any business does – especially on a site welcoming millions and employing thousands.

Westfield Stratford City is the busiest shopping centre in Europe

But there’s an underlying pride in the mission, which is about much more than providing retail units to big brands.

“We take being part of the community very seriously,” said Katie.

“That’s not just the managers in the centre, but everyone in the team – we are all focused on the social impact of our roles.

“The company set itself objectives when it first came into the UK from Australia – to create jobs and value locally around each of our centres.

“We have a community manager and her job is to work at grass roots level with individuals, organisations, local employment support groups and schools.

“We are so focused on improving our social value every year – what we can do to keep it going and build on that.

“We assess what’s going on in the community and where investment and support is needed.

“She then works up a community resilience action plan for each centre that is bespoke to its needs.

“That’s in partnership with the London Borough Of Newham here and Hammersmith And Fulham over at Westfield London.

“Then we measure that impact. That’s not just URW, that’s our contractors as well.

“If you talk to anyone here, community and sustainability are our biggest themes, as they affect everybody.”

On the community front, Westfield Stratford City is a founding partner and official sponsor of the Foundation For Future London – a charity founded in 2015 to connect the various cultural institutions that are coming to East Bank with local people.

“The team here has done this huge project with the East Bank Creative Futures Fund – £10million of investment – which is now in its fourth year,” said Katie.

“It’s phenomenal, with 155 community organisations funded and more than 23,000 participants.

URW has invested £10million in the East Bank Creative Futures Fund

“Each year the applications for funding are open for small, medium and large projects, ranging from £3,000 to £50,000.

“So far they’ve awarded more than £2.5million for a wide spectrum of organisations including community facilities for cycling and skateboarding, local creative businesses and talent development programmes.

“We know our customers want to feel more holistic and joined-up when they come here and the regeneration of both Shepherds Bush and Newham has been a testament to the success of the Westfield centres.”

On the sustainability front, URW is pressing forward with its Better Places 2030 strategy, which aims to reduce its centres’ environmental impact.

“It’s the right thing to do,” said Katie. “It’s not just about reducing the energy we use, but making sure we’re only getting it from green, renewable sources.

“We already operate with zero waste to landfill – all of our food waste, for example goes into a digester which processes it down into pellet form and now we’re working on how we can transform that into compost so customers can come and take a bag for their gardens.

“We want to create a complete cycle.

“There are so many initiatives – we already have rainwater harvesting and we’re looking to install ethically sourced solar panels on both Stratford and Shepherd’s Bush this year.

“It’s vital we know where they are coming from and that there’s no involvement with modern slavery.”

It’s this attention to detail that indirectly should also prove attractive to future residents of Coppermaker Square – URW’s residential venture in Stratford.

“This is somewhere you can now live, work and play,” said Katie.

“They are fabulous buildings and the scheme will be finished next year.

“There are nine blocks and it’s the first time we’ve done build-to-rent in the UK so it’s really exciting for us.

“Why would you not live somewhere like this? The facilities will blow you away.

“There’s a co-working space, a fitness centre, lounge, roof garden, outdoor terrace, concierge service – it’s what people expect now.

Westfield is set to host a Future You event at Stratford in October for young people

“The surrounding area is so beautiful with the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and all the other attractions of east London.

“It’s incredible and has transport connections to Essex, Kent and all across London including the Elizabeth Line from east to west, which is amazing.

“Our centres continue to have major brands invest in them, showing their trust and faith in what we’re doing.

“For example, Sephora is set to open its second UK store at Stratford in November and we’ve already seen the halo effect with other beauty brands doing well around it after it opened in Shepherd’s Bush.

“Westfeld Stratford City is a beautiful shopping environment and, while retail is having a tough time at the moment, that means we need diversity.

“Young people don’t necessarily just want to come and spend money on buying things – they want experiences and we need to cater for that too.”

Younger shoppers are very much on Westfield’s radar, with another of its Future You events set to take place from October 19-22 aimed at engaging with 12-to-18-year-olds.

Katie said: “We’ll be putting on loads of free activities. Last year there was a really popular one with Finfluencers and FinTokkers, although I’m not really cool enough to know about that.”

As a measure of the success of Olympic legacy and regeneration, it all makes for an impressive achievement.

Prices for homes at Coppermaker Square start at £2,480pcm.

Follow this link for more information about Westfield Stratford City

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- 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

August 24, 2023August 24, 2023

Stratford: How Stratford Padel Club puts community at the heart of its operation

Strong demand at the club sees its owners planning to expand with new courts in the pipeline

Stratford Padel Club is located just off Stratford High Street

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The idea for Stratford Padel Club came when the venue Javier Fernandez Aguirre and Anka Mandelson had been playing at closed down.

With its owners unable to find a suitable site to continue, Javier decided to have a go himself, enlisting the help of Anka, initially as an investor.

“Luckily we found a location on Stratford High Street and, having initially tried to get plans for a sports centre going, he decided to see if he could open a padel club,” said Anka, who now acts as co-owner and runs the business with Javier.

“He raised the money pretty quickly but we took a massive risk because we didn’t know if we would get planning permission and that took two years.

“But we got approval and, in a record amount of time, we got the building in September and had to open in December.

“We launched on December 8 with three courts and a tournament for 30 players – we had no idea who would come, but it was an adventure.

“We were capital positive by the following April and reached capacity very quickly.

“The day we filled our peak time slots, we made £100 in profit and we thought the business would work.

Stratford Padel Club co-owner Anka Mandelson

“It meant incredible hours of working for us, but the risk paid off and, just before lockdown, we’d decided to add more courts because we couldn’t cope with the demand.”

Covid was a tough time for the club.

With no government support, Javier and Anka put money back into the business to keep it going and players started a funding campaign that ended up raising £25,000 to help keep it running.

Having expanded to five courts, and very much recovered from the ravages of the pandemic, the club is once again battling demand and has applied to build a further four courts to accommodate all the people who want to play.

Anka puts its success down to the approach she and Javier have always taken.

“Our belief is that our club has to be a community,” she said.

“We treat everybody as though this is their second home.

“We know every player’s name and we have built a team here that shares that approach.

“Whether people are regular players, coming for an event or just trying out the sport, they are part of this community.

“We didn’t embark on this venture for the money – it’s a reflection of our values, our personalities and what we believe in.

“We want to make sure that anybody can come and play at this club – that checkout workers can rub shoulders with bankers on our courts.

The club now boasts five courts and intends to build more

“The UK is a nation of chronically ill people, and I think padel tennis can help solve this problem.

“It’s accessible and delivers physical and mental engagement for individual players, families and older people – it’s definitely something you can pick up later in life.

“We have players here aged up to 78, who are coming on a regular basis and it’s important that councils and landowners understand what padel tennis can do.

“I fear that the sport may be moving to exclusive price points that won’t address these areas.

“The reason it has become so popular in Spain is because it was played in the poorer parts of the cities at courts made of concrete on industrial estates – not with fancy glass.

“We will always be a club that remains accessible.”

Padel, for those who don’t know, is a game for four people played on a smaller court than tennis with hard walls that come into the action when balls bounce off them.

“The scoring is the same as in tennis.

Court pricing at Stratford Padel Club starts at £16 per player for 90 minutes at off-peak times, rising to £19 at peak times for non members.

There are cheaper options for two and three-hour sessions. Various membership packages are also available, which reduce the fees further.

Stratford Padel Club co-owner Javier Fernandez Aguirre

Children aged three and a half and over are also welcome and coaching sessions for adults and kids at all levels are available.

“We don’t want anyone to feel like they have had wasted time or wasted their money, so we’ve created a £10 starter package that everyone begins with,” said Anka, who accidentally discovered padel while trying in vain to find a court to play a tennis match on.

“With that package, you get a coaching session for 30 minutes, a player rating from the coach and then a free membership for 30 days.

“The rating is your point of entry into matches, tournaments and lessons.

“Regardless of your level, we want to make sure that you’re going to have a positive experience at the club – the people you play with will be plus or minus five points from your rating.

“If you come as a beginner, you know that you’re not going to play with advanced players, that lessons will be customised for your level, that tournaments are going to be appropriately challenging – so it’s never going to be a daunting experience and you’re not going to be out of your depth.

“It will also give you a road map of what you need to do to improve. We know people play more if they feel they are getting better.

“We have a very detailed matrix on our app – we’ve put a lot of time into it to help people do that.

Padel is always played as doubles with four people on court

“The 30 days also give players time to see if they like the club, whether they want to embrace the community and if everything feels right.”

The club, which hosts the largest padel tournaments in the country and is partnered with the Lawn Tennis Association – the governing body for the sport in the UK – and boasts a beer garden, equipment shop plus changing and shower facilities.

It also offers table tennis and gym facilities to complement its core offering.

Its more than 11,000 registered players represent a complete spectrum from total beginners to those playing the sport at the highest elite levels.

It is located within easy walking distance of both Stratford station and Pudding Mill Lane DLR and is also accessible directly from Canary Wharf via the D8 bus.

As for the future, things look bright.

There’s the mooted expansion at the Stratford site, which has a lease until 2025, while Javier and Anka are eyeing fresh openings in other parts of London.

Watch this space.

Find out more about Stratford Padel Club here.

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- 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

May 31, 2023May 31, 2023

Stratford: How Grappelli Food Hall offers a wide range of Italian produce at The Gantry

Hotel-based grocery and restaurant offers fresh ingredients and imported flavours at East Village

Grappelli Food Hall features an extensive range of imported produce

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British hotel lobbies are not known for their shopping options.

Sure, in higher-end places there might be a gold and glass case of tasteless and astonishingly expensive jewellery.

In Wales, at the mish-mashed pile that is the Celtic Manor Hotel in Newport, I once saw BMWs being flogged beside an unhappy looking installation of Penderyn whisky bottles.

But generally, all that is to be found in such establishments is a cheery concierge, a branded umbrella or two and sometimes a vending machine.

Not so at The Gantry in Stratford.

While Grappelli Food Hall is cut off from the hotel by a see-through foldaway wall, it’s very much part of the hotel building.

Half Italian grocery and deli and half cafe, bar and restaurant, it’s incongruous as part of a hotel, but somehow right for Stratford.

Sitting on the imaginary border between Westfield and East Village, this is a place that is very much for the locals as well as the visitors.

After all, who comes to a hotel and buys fresh vegetables and meat?

Grappelli Food Hall owner Alessandro Grappelli

“It is incongruous, but the people running the hotel came to us and said they had a space,” said Alessandro Grappelli, the man behind the new opening.

“The venue is incredible and it was a no-brainer. I look at it as a shop that happens to have a hotel above it.

“It’s in an area that’s been super developed, a new city built with all the experience of building the old city.

“For us it was an opportunity.”

Opportunities are very much Alessandro’s forte.

Originally from Rome, he came to London to learn English for six months and that was 26 years ago.

“I found a job and, 25 years and six months later, I’m still here,” he said.

“My family is here and I’ve spent most of my life in the UK.

“London has given me so much. There is so much meritocracy here.

If you’re good at what you do, you have the chance to prove yourself – unfortunately in Italy it still doesn’t work this way, although I do miss the weather.

“I came to London with £150 in my pocket and I started out washing dishes.

“Then I was a salad chef, then pasta, starters and main courses.

“After I’d been in the UK for three years, some of my friends came over and decided to open a restaurant in Fulham. I joined them and it was a great success.

“However, after a few months, they didn’t really want to live in London and so they told me to take the restaurant and pay the rent.

Grappelli offers a range of produce including meat and veg

“That’s how I got started – I was 22. I was lucky, of course, but I also made the most of my chances because they don’t come that often in life.”

Today, Alessandro runs upmarket Roman restaurant Grappelli in Cobham, Surrey, as well as Taverna Trastevere and Pizzicheria Grappelli in Clapham.

The latter was very much the blueprint for his latest venture in Stratford, offering mainly imported groceries from Italy but also making use of local produce.

“We use Dingley Dell Pork, from Suffolk, to make our sausages fresh,” said Alessandro.

“For us it’s about finding the right meat – the chicken and the pork – to make things fresh.

“The idea for the first grocery and deli came after Covid, when we were selling produce to locals close to our restaurant in London.

“We didn’t want any other influences, just Italian – people loved it because it’s a beautiful experience.

“We have the produce people can buy and a kitchen, so customers can see how to turn the ingredients into a meal.

“Our chefs are highly skilled, but they also follow our philosophy – we make simple things but using amazing ingredients and the results are incredible.

“For me, the concept is to get as close to eating with my family at home as I can. It’s about selecting the right produce and suppliers.

“For example, we have our own brand tomato sauce that, when you look at the ingredients list, is just tomatoes and basil. There are no additives.

“When you try it you feel just like your are in Italy and that’s my passion – the real flavour of simple things.”

Something that will certainly appeal to hotel guests and locals alike is the dining side of Grappelli which offers an extensive array of quick bites.

There’s a selection of pasta dishes starting at £9.50 with Gnocchi Ai Pomodoro, ranging up to a Lasagne Alla Bolognese for £11.50.

Foccacia sandwiches come packed with the likes of mortadella, Parma ham and bresaola and range in price from £8.90 to £9.50.

There’s also a range of antipasti including bruschetta, veal meatballs and buffalo mozzarella alongside the canny inclusion of variations on a theme of avocado on toast, for the less traditionally inclined.

“Even with these dishes, we make them with fantastic sourdough bread and an Italian twist,” said Alessandro.

“I think people don’t really know what to expect from us yet.

“When we first opened our doors, we had people who said that they couldn’t believe they had just had our carbonara in Stratford. Some came back again and again.

“That gives me so much satisfaction.

“We want people to try our food and then to go back to their offices, their friends and their families and say that they’d just had the best pasta.

“Across all of our restaurants we sell carbonara to thousands of customers and, according to them, it’s the best in the UK.

“That’s why the whole Grappelli team and I are really excited to work alongside The Gantry on this new venture.

“We really pride ourselves on the research that goes into selecting our products and we hope that this will be reflected in the customer experience.”

Grappelli Food Hall is located at The Gantry on Celebration Avenue and is open every day from 7.30am to 7pm.

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- 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

May 17, 2023May 17, 2023

Stratford: How the Prost8 Challenge helps fight the UK’s third most lethal cancer

Lee Valley VeloPark event targets growth organisers aim to emulate Race For Life’s success

Malcolm Grieve created the Prost8 Challenge following a cancer scare

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Over the course of the next 45 minutes, a man will die from prostate cancer in the UK.

Affecting only men, it is the third most lethal form of cancer, having overtaken breast cancer in 2019.

Around 475,000 men are currently living with and after prostate cancer, with around one in eight being diagnosed with the condition.

That statistic rises to one in four for black men.

“A lot of really great work has been done on breast cancer, which has led to a reduction in deaths,” said Malcolm Grieve, managing director of Eighth Floor Events.

“At the moment, to get tested for prostate cancer, a man has to identify that he may have a problem himself and seek medical advice – there is no screening programme.

“A few years ago I had some symptoms myself – I thought something was wrong and I knew it was a urology-type issue, but I certainly didn’t think it could have been cancer.

“I was in my early 40s and I didn’t really think it could be anything like that. But the PSA test I took indicated it might be.

“When the word ‘cancer’ was mentioned, I was glad I was sitting down. You try to come to terms pretty quickly with what that means.

“I’ve got three kids and while they’re all grown up, the prospect that the disease could accelerate – that they could lose me and I could lose them – was a pretty horrible thought.”

Former Olympic athlete Dwain Chambers will start the 2023 Prost8 Challenge

The more reliable physical examination – literally a finger up the bottom – resulted in Malcolm getting the all clear, PSA tests being notorious for false positives.

But the experience got him thinking.

“When you go through something like that, there is a realisation that there are other people out there who experience very different outcomes,” he said.

“Broadly, you see that there is a lack of funding and messaging to help people get diagnosed early and I wondered what I could do to help.

“I didn’t want to set up a charity in competition with any others – instead I wanted to create something and then partner with a charity to raise money and help drive the message that way.

“My background is in project and programme management and I saw this as an issue that was becoming dear to my heart because of the experience and thought’s I’d had during my own cancer scare – something I could do to help others.”

The result is the Prost8 Challenge, an 8km run or walk, scheduled to return to the road circuit Lee Valley VeloPark for its second iteration on July 9, 2023.

Participants run or walk five laps of the one-mile track to travel a total of 8k – a distance selected in honour of beneficiary, the Essex-based charity Prost8 UK.

The organisation campaigns to widen the availability of new prostate cancer screening methods, to fund focal therapy equipment to help treat men suffering early stage cancer in NHS hospitals with fewer damaging side effects and to raise awareness of all the treatment options available for the disease.

The challenge costs £15 to enter (finishers get a sustainable goody bag and medal), with participants encouraged to raise sponsorship and donations for Prost8.

This year’s race will be started by former Olympic athlete and multiple European record-holder, the sprinter Dwain Chambers.

“Dwain heard the statistic that 25% of black men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and that’s why he wanted to get involved this year,” said Malcolm.

“He was very surprised by that figure and will be our celebrity ambassador this year through our partner, sports nutrition company Bio Synergy.

“He’s said he’ll run at least the first 100m.”

Malcolm is a man who likes to take action.

Having joined the Royal Navy straight from school, he spent 13 years serving on submarines before injury set him on a course for the banking industry.

Having worked for Lloyds and then HSBC in Canary Wharf, he’s now set his sights on building the Prost8 Challenge into a multi-location event inspired by the success of the likes of Race For Life, which has raised nearly £550million over the last two decades to help fight breast cancer.

“We’re starting small, but thinking big – I don’t think there are any limits to what this could become,” said Malcolm.

“We’d love to emulate the success of Race For Life and the levels of funding that achieves.

“Ultimately I would like it to be one day a year when many people across the country take the Prost8 Challenge and to do that we intend to grow the number of locations that host it so we can raise as much as possible.

“We want to support Prost8 in its aim of getting at least eight focal therapy units into NHS hospitals.

“But it’s also about the awareness, because men are often a bit sensitive about what’s going on downstairs.

“They might feel it’s a threat to their masculinity to admit they may have something wrong with them like that and the difficulty with any cancer is that the longer you leave it before testing and diagnosis, the more dangerous it becomes.

“That’s why screening could potentially be so important in the future.”

Richard Jacobs co-founded Alba Partners, which is supporting the Prost8 Challenge

Malcolm is supported in his endeavour by Alba Partners, a consultancy firm co-founded by Canary Wharf resident Richard Jacobs.

“We met in 2014 working together in financial services in Canary Wharf and we’ve remained friends ever since,” said Richard.

“About 18 months ago he threw out the idea that he was going to be putting on the Prost8 Challenge and was looking for input and ideas.

“It sounded really exciting, and like a cause I could get behind. We’d had a scare and some history in the family as well.

“Since we originally met, I’d started Alba with my sister and, as a growing business, we wanted to sponsor the event – something we’ll keep doing for the foreseeable future.

“It meant something to me and it was a cause we were happy to really throw our weight behind.

“The first event last year was great fun.

“There was a real buzz when we arrived with a DJ and a party atmosphere.

“The VeloPark was an Olympic venue, so it felt great to really be at the heart of sport.

“It’s a serious problem that the challenge is addressing, but events like this also help to lighten things up and we’ve made it one of our annual team event days.”

Registration is now open for the latest Prost8 Challenge, which kicks off at 10am on July 9, 2023.

Eighth Floor Events is also looking for support and sponsorship from local businesses and organisations for this year’s challenge and going forward. Follow this link for contact details.

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- 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