Free Weekend: Walk To The Countryside (well, Totteridge Fields)

I’m a complete urbanite but nevertheless I’ve long been obsessed with stepping out of my front door and walking to ...

Community Pinboard: E.Mono to launch Patisserie

By on May 18, 2012 in Art, Books, Community, Food

Welcome to a new item on The Kentishtowner – by popular demand. Got a local event coming up? Paste it on our Facebook Page, or email us (info@kentishtowner.co.uk) and we’ll pick our favourites for Community Pinboard every Friday. Scroll down for some exciting E.mono news too. Here are this week’s picks: 1. A Vintage Fair [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Wednesday Picture: The Secret Of Leighton Place

By on May 16, 2012 in Wednesday Picture

It’s an oft-told tale that London’s piano industry was based in Kentish Town, but not so many folk know about this claim to fame: it was once home to the most famous taxidermists in the world. Rhinos, aardvarks, tigers, monkeys, elephant waste paper baskets, musical boxes made from tortoise shells – they were all stuffed [...]

Read full story • Comments { 4 }

The Big Review: Wasted, Roundhouse

By on May 15, 2012 in Big Review, Film &Theatre

I’ve been following poet and rapper Kate Tempest since first catching her a few years ago at NW5 writer Salena Godden’s legendary Book Club Boutique nights, where she’d silence the boozy room with a winning combination of words and humility. Check out the awe-inspiring Icarus, above. And now on Saturday her debut play, Wasted, is [...]

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

Life Tips #17: Eileen, 92, Retired Nurse Matron

By on May 15, 2012 in Life Tips

1. If there’s another Blitz, stay close to Belsize Park Tube Station. It’s one of the deepest in London. I was a trainee nurse at the Royal Free during WW2. We were evacuated to Epsom for the worst of the Blitz, but I remember the masses of people who would arrive from the East End [...]

Read full story • Comments { 6 }

Why It Matters: Gigging for the Over 50s

By on May 14, 2012 in Music, Why It Matters

When you get to a certain age, you still kid yourself that your peers are somehow older than you. After all, you are young. Nothing has changed despite the advancing years. You like the same things you always did – gossip, lipgloss, bags, jewellery (like Patsy, I seem to have forgotten the word accessories). Not [...]

Read full story • Comments { 9 }

Free Weekend Special: More Street Fairs Than You Can Chuck A Greased Pig At

By on May 11, 2012 in Community, Free Weekend?

You can’t beat the Great British country fete, they cry to us city dwellers. A stroll to the village green for colourful maypole dancing. Jolly Punch & Judy show. Cream tea and locally-caught fish ‘n chips for supper. Or how about a half hour drive to a muddy field, where a selection of unstable fairground [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

The Olive Diaries: Meet Amelie, our new 9 year old critic

By on May 11, 2012 in Food

Who says nepotism is dead? Today we’re delighted to announce our 9 year old god-daughter, Amelie, as The Kentishtowner’s prodigious new columnist. Amelie likes rabbits, stickers, dancing, and letter writing. She’s proud of her 6 award badges including one as school Eco Captain. And larks, she has even held the Olympic torch. But food is [...]

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

The Big Review: Kentish Canteen

By on May 10, 2012 in Big Review, Drink, Food

Kentish Canteen is a place everyone seems to have an opinion on. It opened back in October 2010 to a fanfare from Giles Coren, Time Out, The Guardian and others, was rammed for a while, but like many an instant celebrity, the pressure began to show. Readers would tweet us about inconsistency and occasional service [...]

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

Thursday Video Club: BIGKids ‘Superhero’

By on May 10, 2012 in Music

Billy Boyd Cape, born and bred in Kentish Town, is studying film production at university. But how many 19 year olds get to direct a video for Kanye West-signed Kentish Town-grown superstar Mr Hudson? (Answer: not many). ‘When I was 14 I knew him as my pop-star neighbour,’ he enthuses. ‘I never thought that five [...]

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

The Wednesday Picture: What was Mussolini’s link with The Forum?

By on May 9, 2012 in Wednesday Picture

It’s a popular spot to catch a world-class band, of course, although not quite enough to make your choice of Best Live Venue 2011. But what’s all this we’ve been reading about possible links, back in the 1930′s, with Mussolini? We’ll come to that shortly. First, look at how idyllic the spot was around 1800, [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

The first pictures of the new Pizza East, Kentish Town

By on May 8, 2012 in Drink, Food

Update May 17 Hardens are reporting today that Soho House Group will be opening two restaurants on the site. The second, underneath Pizza East, will be called Chicken Shop. No further details as yet…so watch this space. But it sounds to us like they’ll be doing a galline take on the vogue for all things [...]

Read full story • Comments { 6 }

Life Tips #16: Wayne Dhesi, 30, founder of rucomingout

By on May 8, 2012 in Life Tips

1. Complement each other. A really great thing about gay relationships is that the basic differences between men and women are simply not there. My partner Dan and I both leave the toilet seat up and we can share our clothes too. But I’m quite uptight and like to plan things, whereas Dan is very [...]

Read full story • Comments { 3 }

A Cheeky Coffee @ The Wine Cellar, Kentish Town Road

By on May 7, 2012 in Coffee

Understandably, The Wine Cellar has a strong reputation for the unbeatable selection of Portuguese vino held in its cavernous downstairs room. Local booze connoisseurs know to keep an eye out for the special tasting events that take place around the long central table, too. But coffee geeks are also to be found here. At 10am [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }