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

By on May 18, 2012 in Free Weekend?

I’m a complete urbanite but nevertheless I’ve long been obsessed with stepping out of my front door and walking to the ‘countryside’. And so here’s how we did it from Kentish Town, on one of those sunny Sundays when the clouds are so pillowy and the sky so blue there’s really nothing better to do [...]

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The Big Review: Gilbert Scott, St Pancras

By on May 17, 2012 in Big Review, Drink, Food

The Gilbert Scott is the most glamorous dining room in NW1. Discuss. Other contenders? York & Albany, St Pancras Grand, Odette’s, Gilgamesh (if you like that kinda thing). Or perhaps even Meribel Brasserie. But, architecturally-speaking, there’s nothing to match the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel and its flagship. Scott was the lucky bugger who, in 1866, [...]

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Thursday Video Club: Dry The River, live at Electric Ballroom

By on May 17, 2012 in Music, Thursday Video Club

‘New Ceremony’ is the current single from Dry the River, a London five-piece gazing at the shiny face of stardom. Angelic harmonies of Fleet Foxes? Check. Lyrics with a gloomy hint of the National? Check. A hardcore rock-tinged live show you’d never expect from the likes of Mumford & Sons? Absolutely. And this is what [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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, [...]

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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 [...]

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