Londoner's Diary: Gas Works art set rage against the developers

Can Chelsea have its cake and eat it? Lord Clement-Jones, pictured with famous pals, is backing West London artisans
Getty Images for The Eve Appeal
14 October 2016

It’s a tale of modern London. New developments go up, and those inhabiting old sites are forced to move on. Now The Londoner hears that artisanal residents on the Chelsea and Fulham borders fear being designed out by property development.

The Old Gas Works is the site of disused gas towers near Chelsea Wharf, and an array of buildings in which 300 small creative businesses have clustered over the past 20 years. But there are plans for the old industrial site to be turned into 1,900 new apartments under the name St William Homes, now in the planning application stage with Hammersmith & Fulham council.

Among the artisans seeking a stay is Bill Elmar, once an upholsterer to screen icon Ava Gardner and the Churchill family. “This has been a very nice sociable place for people working here,” he says. “It’s been a really good working solution for me to come here. [Losing this site] will be chaotic for me.”

Lord Clement-Jones, spokesman for the Creative Industries in the House of Lords, is among the artists’ supporters, saying: “I would urge Hammersmith & Fulham council and St William to get together and find a solution for the short- and long-term future of a real, important artistic community.” But will the Mayor step in and answer calls to designate the studio as a new Creative Enterprise Zone? “The Mayor has seen this application at Stage 1,” a representative tells us. “It is now with the borough who will make a decision.”

“We are fully committed to the discussion and working with the local community,” a St William spokesperson said. The Londoner hopes to still have somewhere to get sofas upholstered.

***

To the V&A for the London Press Club Ball, with more than £20,000 going to the Journalists’ Charity. Last night’s event was hosted by Sky News’s Dermot Murnaghan but the star of the show was Dr Alison Joyce, rector of Fleet Street’s St Brides Church, who had blessed the marriage of Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall as their US citizenship forbade an official UK wedding. Presumably that makes Joyce the only woman to decline when Rupert asked her to marry him.

The evening, held in the splendour of the V & A Museum, also had a very patriotic feel as the Wine and Spirit Trade Association showed guests that the Brits can make a corking bottle of fizz. English sparkling wine from Chapel Down in Kent and Hattingley Valley in Hampshire took the baton from their Champagne colleagues, to host the reception for the first time.

Press Club Co-Chairman and Evening Standard Royal Editor, Robert Jobson said: "We were thrilled and proud to be associated with such excellent English wines. Working with the WSTA meant that this year’s charity event was celebrated in style.”

Is blood thicker than Brexit for Boris?

The Government insists it will trigger Article 50 through royal prerogative powers, without a parliamentary vote. But Stanley Johnson, former MEP and father of Foreign Secretary Boris, says it should be voted on, calling Article 50 an “intercontinental ballistic missile”. “If Parliament does not approve the deal, once the deadline laid down has passed, Britain has to leave anyway,” he writes in BrexitCentral this week. “Parliament’s vote at the end of the process will be irrelevant,” he adds. On not consulting Parliament, he says: “It may be legally possible... But is it wise?” Can Stanley still get away with putting Boris on the naughty step?

The Daze on the Strand

Style bible Dazed magazine brought out its disciples for its 25th anniversary party last night. Guests including model Erin O’Connor, designer Ozwald Boateng and TV presenter Billie JD Porter weaved their way past long queues outside the Store Studios, part of 180 The Strand, to find themselves amidst dancers in leather thongs and vertiginous platforms, before seeking sanctuary in the VIP area. Dazed publisher Jefferson Hack and star guest Pamela Anderson appeared in matching monochrome with the Baywatch star but it was model Lily Cole who was belle of the ball.

Marmite murmurs at food awards

A delicious evening at the Observer Food Monthly Awards last night, held at Freemasons’ Hall in Covent Garden. For Great British Bake Off host Sue Perkins, it was just nice to be inside. “This is a big gig for me,” she said. “It’s the first time I’ve been in a solid-sided venue for seven years.”

Jamie Oliver, who won Food Personality of the Year, was just pleased to be among friends after raising Spanish eyebrows recently with an untraditional paella recipe. “Who knew you could get death threats for putting chorizo in paella?” he shuddered. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years but that is hardcore.”

With so many culinary geniuses in the room, talk turned to the threat to Marmite’s presence on the shelves of Tesco. Polpo’s Florence Knight recalled her father’s Marmite and salt-and-vinegar crisp sandwiches, while executive chef at The Ivy, Gary Lee, reminded us that you can even get that unique taste at his legendary restaurant.

“We do Marmite cheese straws at The Club upstairs,” he said. “They’re lovely. It’s comfort food. It takes you back to your childhood. I don’t understand why people don’t like Marmite. I know you either love it or you hate it but I’m always encouraging people to eat more.

“I even remember my face the first time I tried it, like I’d sucked on a lemon.”

***

HEADS turned in the offices of The Times yesterday with a sense of déjà vu. They saw former Prime Minister David Cameron being escorted by Rebekah Brooks, News UK chief exec and guest at Dave’s Cotswold kitchen suppers. They seemed to head towards the editor’s office. How will Michael Gove, new Times writer and Cameron’s frenemy, handle having him on the same patch?

Clarke laps up the Blues

WHERE else for Ken Clarke to launch his book but Ronnie Scott’s? The Hush-Puppy-wearing former Chancellor, Home Secretary and Justice Secretary — among other Cabinet positions — was launching his memoirs, Kind of Blue (also the title of a Miles Davis album). They were, he said, dictated in the evenings with a glass of brandy and a cigar, in lieu of any red boxes to go through.

It was a convivial party, with a jazz band playing and Speaker John Bercow and ex-Treasury boss Sir Nicholas Macpherson among guests. Macpherson, who left in April, is now a bank chairman and King’s College London visiting professor. Does he rate his successors, in particular Gladstone the Treasury cat? “I wouldn’t have inflicted a cat on the Treasury,” he smiled. “I’d have ended up poisoning it.” He went on to add that he loved cats...

Congrats of the day: food critic AA Gill and partner Nicola Formby are to wed. We’d toast Formby for making an honest man of Gill but he’s never lacked that virtue.

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