Southwark Business Today July 2017

Southwark

BUSINESS TODAY

Issue 14: Summer 2017

Actress’s love of the place she calls home Page 18

Photograph by Tim Jenkins

• Arts and culture entertainment in Southwark. Page 8

• Links with Lagenhagen Business relationships strengthened. Page 12

• Is sitting the new smoking?

How sitting all day can be detrimental to your health.

Page 20

Welcome to

Welcome

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Contents

The Southwark Chamber of Commerce magazine for all Businesses in Southwark Chamber, he has contributed an article to this magazine for which we thank him.

The third event was the sudden death of Irvin Sellar. As a young man he set up the second biggest chain of clothing retailers in the county, Mates, but his most tangible lasting legacy is The Shard. This incredibly iconic and visionary building has had a profound effect on the “acceptability” of the area to institutions and has helped the credibility of the London Bridge area generally. His memorial service was moving and a tribute to all he has done for our area.

The spirit of Southwark

The last few months have been turbulent times for Southwark Businesses, when it is even more important than ever for us to work together. One of the most positive aspects has been the spirit of unity within Southwark businesses.

The most prominent issue was the terrible terrorist acts at London Bridge, which shocked us all to the core. The Chamber did what it could to assist, expressing sympathy to those who suffered including in a full page advert in the local paper, supplying a list of Chamber Members who might be suffering or to help to a working team. Working with chamber members the London Bridge Experience who’s property is in the midst of this. They were key to an initiative whereby local business are to provide a free day for the service personnel and their families that dealt with the atrocity.

Other action included offers of free legal advice, rent and I have just heard working with the Council a rates holiday.

We have also had the snap election, which I think whatever one’s political complexion has not been positive for business stability, arguably the only good thing to come out of it on business front is that there might be a softer Brexit than hitherto. As the area voted overwhelmingly against Brexit this is likely to be received positively. Politically our three MPs were each returned with larger majority and as such provides a stable local platform.

I am pleased to say that all of the MPs and particularly our president Neil Coyle have taken a positive role in supporting the

Disclaimer

On a more positive note this month’s feature is on Camberwell, one of the former London villages, steeped in history it now has a strong sense of community. In common with so much of the borough extensive regeneration is planned. My only regret on this feature is that our editors were not able to arrange for me to meet a local celebrity, and one of my childhood pinups, Jenny Agutter. Nonetheless I thank her for making time within her busy schedule to help produce an article on the area, which she clearly loves. I should also express strong thanks to Susan Isaacs who has put so much time and effort into this magazine and has really raised the bar in terms of the quality of the articles.

At the time of writing I am looking forward to our next Annual Thames River Cruise, on the 4th of July which last year all 150 tickets sold out, and we currently have a good number of prebooked places. I am delighted that Lord Kennedy has kindly agreed to be our guest of honour, underlying his firm commitment to the area and support for local businesses.

We had all 50 places booked for a meeting courtesy of Lend Lease at their marketing suite by the Elephant and Castle, when their representative, Ian Smith, Stephen Platts, (Southwark’s director of regeneration) and Sean Tickle of Rolfe Judd each gave insightful views on the borough. I like to think I know the area very well but still learnt a huge amount.

I wish all our members a good summer and hope we can move forward in spite of the political and social problems we have faced.

Southwark Business Today is mailed without charge to all Chamber members and distributed to businesses in the Borough.

All correspondence should be addressed to the Editor at Southwark Chamber of Commerce.

Richard Kalmar

Chairman Southwark Chamber of Commerce Views expressed in publication are not necessarily those of Southwark Chamber of Commerce. Reprinting in whole or part is forbidden except by permission of the Editor. © 2017.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material published

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4 5-7 8-11 12-13 14 15 16-18 19 20 22 23 24 25 26-27 29 31 32 33 33 34 Enquiries

Message of Support Up Front Arts & Culture International Focus News Education Spotlight on Camberwell Remembering when....

Health & Wellbeing Technology Ask the Expert Women in Business Print Solutions Hospitality Voice from Westminster Construction Chamber Events Competition Last Word Chamber Membership

Southwark Chamber of Commerce Southbank Technopark 90 London Road, London SE1 6LN 07477 581977 Email: admin@southwarkcommerce.com Web: www.SouthwarkCommerce.com

Editor

John Dean Email: deangriss@btinternet.com

Contributing Editor Susan Isaacs

Benham Publishing Limited 3tc House, 16 Crosby Road North, Crosby, Liverpool L22 0NY Tel: 0151 236 4141 Fax: 0151 236 0440 Email: admin@benhampublishing.com Web: www.benhampublishing.com

Publisher

Published

Summer 2017 © Benham Publishing

Advertising and Features

Karen Hall Tel: 0151 236 4141 Email: karen@benhampublishing.com

Studio

Mark Etherington Email: mark@benhampublishing.com Media No.1551

in this journal, Benham Publishing and its agents can accept no responsibility for the veracity of claims made by contributions in advertising or editorial content.

Benham Publishing cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in web or email links supplied to us.

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Message of Support

Southwark Chamber of Commerce wishes to express its deepest sympathies to the victims and their families of the recent appalling acts of terrorism in the heart of our community.

We also send our support to all the businesses in the area and we trust they and their customers will carry on, to ensure the terrible events have the least possible effect on them.

The recent terrorist attack in and around the Borough Market area caused a great deal of shock but also highlighted the strong community spirit locally. Everywhere you looked you would find people, including many who run businesses, helping those affected by the tragedy either at the time of the incident or in the days that followed. There is a strong sense of community in Southwark and many of our members made offers of help to those that had suffered.

Southwark Council leader Cllr Peter John summed up the mood when he said: “This was a pointless and horrific attack which has caused real and great harm but will achieve nothing.

As ever, the emergency services have responded heroically and I would like to thank them for all they have done and continue to do following these awful events. "Just one attack of this sort is devastating, but as a city and a country we have suffered far too much in recent months. Southwark is an amazing borough and we are strongest when we stand together, support one another and choose unity in the face of hatred.”

The borough commander of Southwark police praised his officers and called the public’s response ‘first class’ as they helped victims.

Speaking to The Southwark News, Simon Messinger said: “I’ve heard stories of businesses taking them and letting them use their facilities, offering refreshments and offering them food. I can’t thank the public enough. They have been really supportive. The public have been absolutely first class.”

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “As Londoners, we will stand together in solidarity to remember those who were killed or injured in this horrific terror attack. “There can be no justification or excuses for these barbaric, cowardly attacks. By standing together as a city, we will send a powerful message here and around the world - that Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism. Our city – the greatest city in the world - will never forget the innocent victims who lost their lives.”

Following the London Bridge attack, the British Red Cross has launched a new UK Solidarity Fund to help victims of terror in the UK. Working in partnership with the London Emergency Trust, the new fund will help to alleviate immediate suffering and ensure that victims and their families do not face short-term financial difficulties.

Unfortunately this is not the first time London has been the target of atrocities; they did not undermine the vitality of our great city then, and the will not now, this is especially relevant in Southwark at the heart of the city.

Richard Kalmar Chairman Southwark Chamber of Commerce

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Up Front

Politicians gather at the Chamber of Commerce AGM

Canada Water Masterplan Update

By Susan Isaacs

The Canada Water Masterplan covers a 46 acre site incorporating Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, the SE16 Printworks, Surrey Quays Leisure Park, the Dock Manager’s Office and 1 – 14 Dock Offices.

A little alleyway from Borough High Street beckons.

Strung across the gap between two buildings is a golden sign with pretty lettering curving into a carriage lamp in the centre.

'The George' says the sign on one side of the lamp and then just in case you might forget, 'The George' it repeats on the other.

You enter a world which straddles the centuries, a bustling courtyard where locals sip pints on benches, overlooked by a half timbered coaching inn established in medieval times, by far the oldest in London.

In Elizabethan times there were plays and cock fighting on a stage erected in the courtyard. Punters would pay extra for seats in the timbered pub overlooking the yard. Centuries later Charles Dickens stayed here and made it the setting for his novel "Little Dorrit" This Inn often hosts the Chamber and is now the scene for an important event in the Southwark Chamber of Commerce Calendar, the AGM. People find their way up from the packed bar to the inner sanctuary of the Winchester Room, where refreshments are served.

I bump into the incoming Mayor of Southwark Council, Charlie Smith, on the way up the wooden stairs and the room is full. Many politicians are there, Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Southwark, and President of the Chamber has come with his assistant, busy taking photos.

Sir Simon Hughes, former Liberal Democrat MP for Southwark is there too.

There is no doubt that a General Election is looming!

Richard Kalmar, Chairman of the Chamber opens the proceedings with an expert summary of the events of the past year. This includes a beer tasting of craft beers, a meeting at the Mayflower, fifty people at the House of Commons, a talk about health and well being, Black Business Awards, a talk about crowd funding and and some advice from an expert about rates going up in some cases as much as 300 percent.

There was a meeting at British land, a discussion about employment and apprentices and a meeting at the Bank of England to talk about how business is doing.

Then it was down to the main business of the evening, the proposal and election of the new executive committee.

There are three vice-chairs Peter Mantell, newly elected, and existing vice chairs Les Johnson, and Yoko De Souza and a new accountant, Karon Cook. Other members include Roger Beckett and Ken Hayes Membership secretary. There are several new people joining the committee including James Kislingbury of the large local employers, London Bridge Experience, an interactive experience through London's spooky history and Daniel Stern of Newington Consultants, a fast growing dynamic PR company.

There was a slight moment of tension when those nominated waited to be re-elected and a moment when Richard briefly sat down, and took off his chain of office, only minutes later to put it straight back on, when he was unanimously re-elected.

There was some heated discussion about a foot/cycle bridge proposed to run from Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf and providing much-needed connection and relief to pressure on the Jubilee line.

It has been approved by Sadiq Khan and is generally popular with everyone, but the cost is about £160 million. Richard gave a useful summary of events to come which include a meeting at the White Cube Art Gallery, a meeting about Social Media, and a meeting about food and drink at Borough Market.

He gave special thanks to all the committee members and particularly mentioned the excellent job Sonia does as Chamber administrator.

People happily tucked into refreshments, exchanged business cards, and discussed future collaborations. Another year over, another to come.

I bet the medieval founders of the George Inn were doing exactly the same sort of things all those centuries ago.

The Masterplan is expected to deliver around 2 million sq ft of office and workspace, up to 3,500 new homes and around 1 million sq ft of retail, leisure, entertainment and community space set in a network of streets and spaces connected to the wider area.

Recent consultation In May, British Land shared the revised Canada Water Masterplan for feedback at public exhibitions. Over the course of two weeks, over 1,500 people attended the exhibitions to view the updated plans, spoke to the project team and left feedback. All feedback is currently being analysed and compiled into a public report that British Land will share with the community for further review, before proceeding to more detailed design ahead of a planning submission.

Masterplan legacy British Land and the Canada Water Masterplan project team is committed to working with the community to ensure that the proposals deliver a range of long-term benefits for those who live in, work in and visit the area.

Conversations with local residents and businesses which began in 2014 have been a valuable source of local knowledge on how the masterplan can support local enterprise.

Creating a new economic centre for Southwark, home to a range of employment opportunities and wide variety of businesses and workspace is a fundamental ambition of the project. British Land’s vision is that major employers can thrive side-by-side with startups and independent businesses, bringing a range of employment and opportunities to do business. The completed scheme expects to provide up to 20,000 jobs and approximately 1,800 roles in construction would be generated over the development period.

Further consultation In the coming months, further consultation will take place before the submission of a planning application. The project team will be at the Bermondsey Carnival on 1 July and the Rotherhithe Festival on 15 July and will be available to talk about the masterplan proposals.

For further information on the Canada Water Masterplan, and to view the most recent content, please visit www.canadawatermasterplan.com

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Up Front

Hard Hats and New Homes the Early Bird Regeneration Meeting at Elephant Park

By Susan Isaacs

A Blow for Beauty There is a buzz in the air as estate agents, property developers, at the London architects, surveyors and town planners, all rub shoulders at the Glassblowing Gallery Chamber's Early Bird meeting, eager to hear of business opportunities. in Bermondsey Street The meeting is held

By Susan Isaacs A ball of glass sits on the end of long metal red rod.It glows red. A man clad in a black tee shirt, with the muscles of a blacksmith, places the ball of glass in a vast white stone furnace at the back of the room.

A couple of yellow gas canisters are dotted round the room, and there is an impressive, and slightly threatening looking array of huge tweezers hanging on the wall. To one side of this workshop is a table with rows of vases in a rainbow of beautiful colours.

The scene could be from centuries ago, for the art of glass blowing is an ancient one. But the setting is in fact thoroughly modern. It is the workshop at the back of Peter Layton's London Glass Blowing Gallery in trendy Bermondsey Street.

Throughout the day you can watch the artists moulding, prodding, and trimming the beautiful glass art works into shape.

Take a look at the Ferry Mouse, a pale blue glass mouse in a wooden boat with a red button of a nose and a wooden punt like a toothpick.

Other works include gorgeous yellow sunflowers staring out at you from oval vases. Perfume bottles stand in a line, translucent stoppers long and thin, with a gorgeous range of delicate blue flowers on them.

Pop in there one day and drink in the colours. There is glassblowing throughout the day, but avoid the lunch hour if you want to see the artists in action. All that blowing and moulding, and heating and cooling must be thirsty work. But when you see the exquisite results you can see exactly why they do it.

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at Elephant Park, the impressive new development area in the heart of Elephant and Castle.

The site itself is a temporary bleak concourse at the moment, a construction site with red cranes and tall buildings looming down upon it.

It is peopled by men in luminous yellow jackets and red hard hats, and the security to get into the building is tight, with turnstiles and security guards. But the area is softened by a border of green hedges, which give a glimpse of the thousand new trees and green park to come.

Three representatives of Southwark's property people have come to speak about the dramatic new developments in Southwark. They are Stephen Platts, Southwark’s Director of Regeneration, Iain Smith from Australian property developers Lendlease, who are delivering Elephant Park, and Sean Tickle, from Rolfe Judd, one of the most active planners in the borough.

Stephen outlined the astonishing new regeneration projects and the dilemma that faces the council, the pull between the need for new homes, and the equally strong need for business accommodation.

Elephant and Castle used to be known as the Piccadilly of the South and was a hub for theatres and department stores. It was damaged in the First World War and fell into decline. But it has the great natural advantage of being just twenty minutes walk

by Susan Isaacs to the centre of the City which makes it an ideal area for regeneration.

Three thousand new homes are planned. There are currently 120 trees and another thousand

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are envisaged. Half of the site will be publicly accessible, with the aim of getting people out of their cars and onto their feet. Retail is planned along the Walworth Road for local independent businesses, and there are plans for a good percentage of the homes to be a special affordable rent.

There will be a new town centre, the London College of Communication will be redeveloped, as well as a University of the Arts, and a new public leisure centre equivalent to a private one.

There will be an construction centre creating over a thousand jobs for apprentices, and a new medical centre and nursery.

There are plans too for Art Works Elephant,an incubator space for small local businesses The Old Kent Road, traditionally the cheapest place on the monopoly board, will not be left behind. It will become a historic boulevard, preserving the character. But there may be thousands of new homes and thousands of new jobs. There is a huge need for affordable homes for young professionals and the Old Kent Road is the jewel in the crown for this.

However, as Stephen commented, a development this size is the equivalent of

a town the size of Maidenhead being plonked down abruptly in Southwark.

Camberwell too will have its day with a redesigned park, plaza, library and and expanded College of Art, and Canada Water will become a completely new town.

Richard Kalmar, Chairman, asked the question on everyone's lips, "How many of the jobs might go to Southwark people?" Stephen Platts did point out that Brexit might allow more options for Southwark workers. The other burning question was how much provision would there be for people established in the area, priced out of the market.

It is a question that remains not completely resolved.

I wandered back to Elephant and Castle tube passing cranes, skips and the shopping centre en route. A model of a bright red, tusked elephant with a white castle on its back stood on a plinth, surveying the scene. Changes are in the air.

But I would like to bet that an elephant and a castle will survive the changes and preserve the character of this area throughout the dramatic transformations to come.

Up Front

Link Age Southwark is Charity of the Year Local charity Link Age Southwark has been awarded ‘Charity of the Year’ at the 2017 Southwark Stars awards.

The accolade recognises the positive impact of Link Age Southwark’s work supporting over 500 isolated older people in Southwark.

Held annually, the Southwark Stars awards, organised by Community Southwark, celebrate the huge contribution of voluntary organisations to life in the Borough.

The ‘Charity of the Year’ award was collected by the organisation’s Director, Gemma Juma, at a ceremony at Tate Britain where she said, “This award is a huge credit to all of Link Age Southwark’s fantastic volunteers who gave over 17,000 hours of their time last year. We are so grateful for their dedication and generosity in giving up their time to help others. Our volunteers should be very proud that the wonderful impact of their volunteering on the lives of older residents has been recognised with this award.”

Two of Link Age Southwark’s volunteers, Lucy and Robert,

also collected Southwark Stars awards for volunteering at the ceremony. Robert is a dedicated befriending volunteer, visiting two older gentlemen weekly.

Lucy regularly visits older residents in hospital, as well as organising two of Link Age Southwark’s regular social groups for people over 60.

To find out more about Link Age Southwark’s work supporting older people, please visit their website www.linkagesouthwark.org or find them on Twitter @LASwark

The Copleston Centre

– nearly 40 years of serving local people “As a survivor of a serious breakdown in health, (the Copleston Centre) has been a gateway to my survival needs to date … in a quest to being a valuable member of society within which I live.”

This is the kind of feedback that has inspired Copleston Centre’s service to the community since we started on 9 May 1978.

Born out of the vision of two church congregations seeking to create a resource for the community, nearly 40 years on we have a building that is used by about 500 people from all walks of life seven days a week.

Roughly half way between Peckham Rye and East Dulwich railway stations, your visit to Copleston might be to access one of our many activities or to join our team of volunteers.

Our work comprises three strands for young people, older people and people with mental health concerns. We also provide space for the Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers (SDCAS), a range of community groups and activities as diverse as a parent and toddler session, a reading group and a boxercise class.

Our hall is booked by local people to celebrate parties and anniversaries.

We are proud that a number of groups that started by meeting here went on to become organisations in their own right, such as SDCAS, and Southwark Muslim Women’s Association.

All this has been achieved with a tiny staff team and the commitment of a volunteers.

Highlights of the year are our annual Street Party in June and our “Gift of Christmas” annual free dinner for 100 local people who are vulnerable or isolated. This year we opened our doors to 20 homeless people by participating in the Robes project.

This year has been challenging as we have strived to continue activities during extensive building works which provide the centre with a more flexible range of spaces.

We rely on the support of the local community and businesses. We are proud to have been the local charity of the year for the Dog Kennel Hill branch of Sainsbury’s and are looking forward to working with Dulwich Hamlet’s Football Club as their charity partner.

We have many challenges ahead of us, needing £250,000 to replace our roof, and with a need for new members to come on to our board of Trustees, including a Treasurer and a Secretary.

With so many people seeking our help and support, we are confident we will still be here in another 40 years’ time.

For more information please visit www.coplestoncentre.org.uk

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Arts & Culture

"Actoresses" they will never catch on - Nell Gwynn at the Globe Theatre

By Susan Isaacs – Arts and Culture Correspondent

A pink bust of Charles II sits in the middle of the stage, and a lion and a unicorn stand on either side of a silver crest. From the midst of this audience, a young woman calls out a quip.

She has a mass of fair curls framing her face, and wears a white blouse, showing a beautiful neck and white shoulders, and a flowing orange skirt.

"Enough of your cheek," calls a heckler, "You've never seen my cheek," she responds swiftly." You think you are so quick don’t you," he retorts.

"Not half so quick as you, or so your good wife says," retorts the young woman, with rapier wit.

The young woman is, of course, Nell Gwynn, played with mischief and high spirits by Laura Pitt-Pulford, who starts life as a prostitute and orange seller, and becomes principal actress, and the King's mistress.

Charles Harte, the leading actor in the Kings Company, is attracted by her wit and beauty,

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and trains her to become the Company's first "actoress."

This endangers Edward Kynaston, the actor who plays female parts, performed with flamboyant petulance by Esh Alladi.

"Actoresses" says Kynaston with venom, "it will never catch on."

Sam Watson is mesmerising as Harte, and there is a charming love scene when he calls out to Nell, and the attentive audience.

"We are alone, no-one is watching."

This brilliantly written play by Jessica Swale, is jam packed with superb lines. Ben Righton is a comically libidinous Charles II who raises oohs and ahs from the audience, when he appears on stage cuddling a King Charles spaniel.

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The encounter between Charles and Nell shimmers with chemistry, when he approaches Nell backstage. He offers to treat her to "some good English sausage". and enquiries whether she has a bath at home, to which she replies that underneath she is filthy.

It is not just the major characters who sparkle. Nicholas Bishop acts as the resourceful playwright Dryden, who has finished his play, but just hasn't written the words yet. Pandora Clifford impressively plays not one, but two of the Kings mistresses. She has an excellent French accent as Louise de Kérrouaille, the hated mistress from from France, and is an imperious nymphomaniac, as his main mistress, the voracious Barbara Castlemaine.

I do feel rather sorry for the King's wife Portuguese Catherine of Braganza played

by Joanne Howarth. Historically she was a kind religious lady, who was heartbroken by Charles's philandering. In the play she is parodied as falling into paroxysms of rage on meeting Charles' mistress.

But her pronunciation in fake Portuguese of the word "apoplectica', has the audience chortling.

This is a brilliantly written play with excellent performances from a very strong cast.

You have to agree with King Charles's exhortation on his deathbed to "Let not poor Nellie Starve."

The play deserves to run and run, and let not just Nell, but any of them starve.

Arts & Culture

Laura Pitt-Pulford - a ravishing Nell Gwynn

By Susan Isaacs – Arts and Culture Correspondent "I think she has more balls about her than me," says lithe blonde beauty Laura Pitt- Pulford, "but I have some of the same fire in my belly."

She is speaking of the leading role as Nell that she plays in Jessica Swale's award winning drama Nell Gwynn. Laura brings the beauty, stamina, and wit needed, to tell dirty jokes, sing, act and dance her way through this marvellous comedy.

It is not surprising when you look at her experience.

Her musical credits include Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Flowers for Mrs Harris and Side Show.

I asked her how she found the singing and dancing part of the play.

"Well, I have a lot of experience in musical theatre, but it was harder in a role like this when you are corseted, and trying to sing and dance at the same time. It was much easier when

I was an orange girl, wearing loose flowing dresses at the beginning. As I became part of the court and had to wear more formal clothes, I was much more restricted."

The chemistry between Nell and Charles Harte, (the leading actor in the Restoration theatre company, played by Sam Marks) is particularly powerful on stage.

Why does she think this is?

"I think it is to do with being actors ourselves. We identify with the life of an actor, and the sense of community that builds up in a theatre company.

There is a part in the play when Nell has been away from the stage, Charles has died, and the company wants her to come back. There are times when acting has saved me during a difficult time just as it saves her."

Did you feel you understand Nell as a character?

"I think women nowadays are much more expected to have their own ideas, and speak up.

In the era the play portrays, you were very unusual to speak up.

I do feel I get to know her better, the longer I am in the play. She couldn't have risen as far as she did just by being witty and sexy, she had to have something more.

For example she was aware of what characters needed from her. Dryden needed to feel that he was a great playwright, and she realises she has to tread very carefully with Kynaston.

"And what about the King.

What did you think about her relationship with him?"

"Oh she really was in love with the King. When he first comes

to see her she teases him, asking him, "You are Charles who?" But for all of her bravado, she must have been really quivering inside. But then they have a real love affair.

For example she has a necklace to wear, some pearls and in the play she decides to just stick with the one choker that the King has given her."

In the distance I hear Laura being called, it is a break between performances and now she must fly. She and Nell may span different centuries, but as Laura prepares to go on stage, I can hear that she can transform herself into the woman described by her lover Charles II. In an instant she is "pretty, witty, Nell," beloved by him, and his subjects alike.

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Arts & Culture

Characters at the Mercy of Destiny - Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre

By Susan Isaacs – Arts and Culture Correspondent A macabre disembodied electronic voice floats down from on high. Men in black appear punching boxing gloves at each other. Suspended from the ceiling are looming canopies and bombs ready to drop. Techno music blares out and the effect is more ‘Brave New World’ than Elizabethan courtliness. Are you hallucinating?

Just in case you were wondering, it seems a bit unlikely that Romeo and Juliet will live happily ever after.

This innovative production by Daniel Kramer shocks and grips you, and does all it can to bring this beautiful love story into the twenty-first century.

When Romeo (Edward Hogg) first appears, ambling lankily onto the stage, mournfully listening to his headphones, clad in grungy grey jeans, what parents of teenage boys today could fail to nod in complete recognition. Juliet (Kirsty Bushell) with her gravelly smoker's voice and Dr Marten boots looks as if she has just arrived from Camden Market, although it is a little difficult to think of her as thirteen.

There are some high spots to this production. The Capulets

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fancy dress ball features not just a lecherous character in leopard skin shorts, but an armour suited knight, a butcher with a cleaver and a striped apron, and a man in an ape costume, giving all they've got to the blaring music of the Village People's YMCA. Against this backdrop Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love.

Kramer has visualised the characters as clowns at the mercy of destiny, but it is a real shame that the heavy black and white make up they wear, obscures their features. When you have such beautiful young actors playing the parts, you do want to see their faces.

One innovation that is extremely effective though, is the way Kramer slices the action, and compresses scenes. For example two tableaux have been spliced together so that

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Juliet is in a love scene with Romeo, while the body of her murdered cousin ominously adorns her bed.

There are some outstanding performances from the team.

Blythe Duff, as Juliet's Scottish nurse, is both loving and firm, as she runs errands for her young charge. She illustrates admirably why a Scottish accent is used in ads for financial services to imply kindness and trustworthiness. Because of the way the scenes are so cleverly compressed, the nurse keeps not just Juliet, but the audience too, in hilarious suspense.

Juliet desperately tries to find out what message Romeo has given the nurses about the two lovers meeting, and because the scene has been spliced the audience does not know either.

Golda Rosheuvel, as Mercutio,

one of Romeo's gang brings an original slant to the traditionally male role. She brings sexual overtones to her relationship with Romeo and straddles him in play fighting.

Many might be shocked by this macabre take on Shakespeares portrayal of young love. The play opens with two caskets symbolising the lovers coffins, and ends with Romeo, incarcerated with Juliet, putting a gun to his head, a symbol of today’s violent twenty-first century society. The production breaks all the rules. But in doing so it brings it bang up to date.

Romeo summarises the effect of the production as he shoots himself, in lines which were definitely not written by Shakespeare.

“Bang bang. Bang bang.”

Golda Rosheuvel as Mercutio with Jonathan Livingstone as Benvolio

Arts & Culture

Golda Rosheuvel plays Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet

By Susan Isaacs – Arts and Culture Correspondent Romeo and a gang of youths fight it out on stage, brandishing soft baseball bats, faces painted black and white like grotesque clowns.

One of them wears a black kilt and a feminine breast plate. Their talk is full of sexual innuendo.

Suddenly we realise that this youth is not played by a young man, but a woman, and when this woman straddles Romeo, we realise that this relationship is not just innuendo, but overtly sexual.

Director Daniel Kramer has broken with convention by choosing not just a woman to play the role of Romeo's best friend, teenage gang member Mercutio, but a black woman, who at forty seven is acting alongside actors far younger than she is.

I asked Golda Rosheuvel, the highly intelligent and energetic actress, about the role.

"Daniel Kramer is a good friend of mine, and I very much enjoy working with him. When we talked about the role over a year and a half ago, I did not

have it on my radar as a role that was gender swapped."

She explained the fascinating preparations for the part, and how closely the cast was involved in decisions. "The play is a work of art, and the visual side was very important...

I chose my own bat and I wanted the bat to look like a lollipop and so taped it up with white and red. I wanted to emphasise the idea of a grotesque clown... We all wanted to express our individuality in this and Tybalt (played by Ricky Champ) had his bat with a T on it."

I was fascinated to hear how the fight scenes were developed.

"Well we worked with fight director, Combat Kate, (Kate Waters).

It is like the steps of a dance.

First of all we would act out the scene with some pushing and shoving... We would work out

how you could do it, how you could grab safely here, push safely there...The goal was to get to Tybalt..."

"And did it ever go wrong?"

"No it never went wrong.

There were specific areas where you would remember to line up, there was a patch of grass on the stage, and there were particular moments in the music when you would know what to do."

"And how did you find acting in the Globe itself. " "Oh it is a wonderful space to perform. During the death scene, I could look up through the open roof and see the sky.

There is the river flowing outside. The best part is to connect with the audience...

You can see the reaction from the audience, the "groundlings" standing facing you and point to a person and see their reaction... you can see the whites of their eyes."

And what roles does Golda have coming up? "I play a granny in the film "Lady Macbeth."

And would she play more gender swapped roles "I hope so, why not, why not."

She has brought so much originality and intelligence to the role of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, that we must surely echo her response. We hope so too.

Why not.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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International Focus

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Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

International Focus

Links with Langenhagen when Birgit came to Bermondsey

Susan Isaacs talks to Birgit Naeschke A slim blonde lady trips down Bermondsey St with me, looking into the hip cafes and art galleries that line the street.

Every so often she pauses to take an expert snap of an unusual angle in the street.

She wears a black jacket and perfectly cut trousers.

Something about her stylish figure reminds you of someone. Who could it be?

Then she puts on a pair of sunglasses and it hits you.

She is a bit blonder, and she hails from a country further east. But Birgit Naeschke, retired primary school head teacher, and the driving force between the relationship between Southwark Chamber of Commerce and our German twin Langenhagen, bears a distinct resemblance both in appearance, name, and profession to the new French president's wife, the classy Brigitte Macron.

Like her French counterpart, she is obviously a mover and a shaker.

Birgit first came to Southwark when she accompanied her son on his school exchange in 1998. English had become compulsory for primary schools in Langenhagen and she linked with councillor Aubyn Graham, to arrange training for German primary school teachers in Southwark. The twinning began in the 1980s, the business clubs joined in the 1990s and Langenhagen and Birgit developed this some years later in 2004, she had the inspired idea to invite a delegation to visit Langenhagen companies and the relationship went from there.

The Germans are famous for their efficiency and this was more than evident when I asked her about the relationship between the two chambers.

She explained in excellent English, “from then on I tried to organise more or less regular events. We even drew up an agreement between the two Chambers of Commerce. I can send it to you if you like."

She explained how the German Chamber organise their meetings. "We meet for a business breakfast on the first Thursday of the month.

It is always in a members company to show that business.

Also we sometimes have themes (for example “safety at work“, "health at work“ etc). And between the items on the agenda there is time for networking while having breakfast. It is a tightly organized meeting of an hour and a half."

I asked her what the best events would be for Southwark members to attend. She waxed lyrical about the Goose Fair which is a traditional event in German to be held this year on November 24th. All sorts of delicious foods are on sale, so to the foodies amongst you, the time to attend would be then, or the wonderful Langenhagen Ball held on Saturday 4th November at the Maritime Airport Hotel. If you look on the website it says "Be there when the Hamburgbased band Blue Café makes the salon quake and MaritimKüchenchef Markus Kirchner spoils you with first-class food."

Richard Kalmar, Les Johnson, Birgit Naeschke visit a local brewery on a recent visit to Langenhagen

The wonderful evening is under the patronage of not one but four mayors those of Burgwedel, Isernhagen, Langenhagen and Wedemark.

I bet their chains of office must be quite a sight.

Birgit also kindly offered to organise a look inside some of the Langenhagen companies, if people are interested.

There is a wide range of industries in Langenhagen, mainly manufacturing, and products include laser printers, aircraft engines, biscuits and cakes and tobacco and cigarettes.

For those of you interested, do have a look at the Langenhagen website. www.der-wirtschaftsklub.de Even if your schoolchild German is a little rusty, the pictures give a very good idea of the events and you can always use Google translate

A quick glance at the site shows some captivating photographs.

The selection of Business Frühstück (breakfasts) look particularly inviting There is a picture of people in orange safety jackets on a visit to a paper recycling factory, a young lad surrounded by his elders stares out from an excursion to Bundesliga handball, and a glossy black Volkswagen sports coupé adorns the site of another business breakfast.

I asked Birgit what the best thing has been to come out of the association between the two chambers "It is friendship and the chance to have a look at other businesses abroad."

Surely Birgit has summed up, in just a few words, what Chambers of Commerce are all about.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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News

Housing deal is announced

In the spotlight

More than 100 property professionals visited The Shard as part of the annual British Council for Offices (BCO) conference.

Southwark Council has announced a new partnership with housing association Clarion Housing Group to build more than 600 new homes in the borough.

The partnership has been forged through the council’s Regeneration in Partnership Programme, which aims to provide new homes, improved public facilities and employment opportunities for local people through development partnerships.

Clarion will be building 606 new homes on sites identified by the council in the centre and south of the borough.

At least 284 of the new homes will be council-owned and a further 94 will be homes available for low cost ownership, with the remainder as private home sales to pay for the building of the council homes.

Kerry O'Driscoll, Director of Major Projects and Partnerships at Clarion, said: “We wanted to build on our existing legacy of investing in new homes and communities in Southwark.

With more than one hundred years’ experience here, we feel ideally placed to deliver a range of new homes, with quality and design at their heart, that local people can feel proud of and benefit from.”

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The BCO staged more than 70 events and tours of some of London’s best new buildings,The Shard was part of a technical tour led by Bill Price, Director at WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, which demonstrated the changes going on along the Southbank.

Delegates also visited new tower 240 Blackfriars, Southbank Central and the new Tate Modern extension.

At 240 Blackfriars, delegates were shown the building followed by a visit to media company UBM. The tour then moved to the former King’s Reach Tower

on Stamford Street which has been extended and its vast podium completely refurbished, before departing for a behind the scenes tour of The Shard.

Danny Lemon, General Manager for London Bridge Quarter, gave a short introduction to The Shard's journey to date and how the building runs operationally.

Andrew Sell, Commercial Director at REM, the asset manager for The Shard, spoke about The Shard's range of occupiers, which include energy, retail, technology, finance, real estate, professional services, |education and healthcare.

Delegates were then invited to visit the offices of Warwick Business School, Gallup and The Office Group to explore the flexibility of the space and variety of uses within the building.

Electric car charging points to increase Transport for London (TfL) has appointed the suppliers who will provide the rapid charging points that the Capital needs to make it easier to use electric vehicles.

The Centrica Consortium, BluepointLondon, Chargemaster, Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and Fastned will fund, maintain, operate and install the network with the first charge points operational within months.

They will power vehicles in close to 30 minutes, compared with the three to four hours when using a standard unit.

The initial aim is to see 75 charging points in the ground by the end of this year, with the network growing to 150 by the end of 2018 and 300 fully functioning by 2020.

TfL is working with the boroughs and investing £18million to unlock potential sites, including upgrading the power supply. Strategic hubs

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

are also being evaluated on arterial roads, owned and maintained by TfL, and on private land, including Heathrow Airport and multiple Shell service stations.

Ben Plowden, TfL’s Director of Surface Strategy and Planning, said: 'Urgent action needs to be taken to clean up London's toxic air and rid the Capital of the most polluting vehicles.

An extensive rapid charging network is fundamental in helping drivers make the shift from fossil fuels to electric.”

Customers will be supported by 24-hour, seven-day-a-week call centres and have the latest information at their fingertips, such as the location and availability of charging points, both on the web and through apps.

Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for Environment, said: “This investment in London's infrastructure is great news for the Capital. It will help to shape a new competitive market for rapid charging points, preparing for new taxis as we look to phase out diesel and make the move towards ultra-low emission vehicles to help clean up London’s toxic air.”

Education

How the apprenticeship levy could benefit your business Effective from May 2017, the UK government’s new apprenticeship levy is a real turning point in the quality of apprenticeship training – and as one of south London’s biggest vocational training providers, Lewisham Southwark College can help you maximise the opportunities for your business.

The apprenticeship levy is central to the government’s ambitious goal of creating 3 million apprenticeships by 2020.

But what are the implications of the levy for your business, and how can you make sure you ‘get out’ as much – or more – than you ‘put in’?

In a nutshell, businesses now pay 0.5% of their pay bill into a ‘levy account’, and each

employer receives a £15,000 allowance to offset the levy, which means that only companies with a pay bill of over £3 million pay the levy.

Companies can use the money in their levy account to pay for high quality training with an approved provider such as Lewisham Southwark College.

If your company pays the levy, the good news is that you can recover 100% of this money, while investing in the future of

your business through training.

In fact, since your credits are topped up by 10% from the government, you can actually spend more than you pay in.

Smaller businesses also stand to benefit from the levy, with the government now promising to co-invest 90% of apprenticeship training costs alongside 10% from the employer.

At Lewisham Southwark College they have a fantastic

track record of training apprentices with many going on to permanent roles with their employers. They’re experts in supporting businesses through the process of recruiting and training apprentices, enabling you to create a dedicated, loyal workforce with the key skills your business needs.

To talk about apprenticeships, just call them on 020 3757 3050.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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Spotlight on ...

Camberwell Green

Victorian surgery at Camberwell Green

Butterfly Walk Shopping Centre

It’s all about the atmosphere in Camberwell Camberwell is a community that retains much of its individuality and is noted for its range of independent shops, cultural attractions and night life. It all adds up to a very special atmosphere.

The area has a long history, appearing in the Domesday Book as Cambrewelle, which may derive from the Old English Cumberwell or Comberwell, meaning 'Well of the Britons', referring to Celtic inhabitants of an area dominated by Anglo-Saxons.

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An alternative theory suggests the name may mean ‘Cripple Well’, and that the settlement developed as a hamlet where people from the City of London were expelled when they had life-threatening diseases like leprosy, for treatment by the church and the clean, healing waters from the local wells.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Today it is a mixture of wellpreserved Georgian houses, including some of the most elegant in London and 20th-Century housing and a number of important organisations which contribute to the local economy.

One of the best known is the Salvation Army’s William Booth

Memorial Training College in Denmark Hill, which is named after the organisation’s founder who when he heard about homeless people sleeping on the banks of the Thames in |the middle of the 19th Century set out to help them.

The iconic building, designed

by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, has

Spotlight on ...

Exterior elevations of the new student accommodation and landscaped courtyard The interior of the new 262-seater lecture theatre.

been at the heart of Salvation Army leadership training since 1929 and offers residential courses for The Salvation Army’s employees, envoys and cadets from the United Kingdom and further afield, who work in 128 countries.

Also impressive about the area is the number of fashionable cafes, theatres and art galleries spring up.

Indeed, arts and culture are important for the area and Camberwell has several art galleries including at Camberwell College of Arts, which trains the artists of tomorrow.

The area is also associated with a group now known as the YBAs, the Young British Artists, who emerged in the 1980s and 1990s and began in Camberwell - in the Millard building of Goldsmith's College on Cormont Road. Luminaries included Liam Gillick, Sarah

Lucas Anya Gallaccio and Damien Hirst.

The annual Camberwell Arts Festival, which runs in June, also contributes to the local economy. It is run by Camberwell Arts, a registered charity that aims to represent and promote the diverse cultural geographies of Camberwell.

Founded in 1994 by Selina Hamilton and a group of local residents and artists, they sought to highlight the diversity of the local arts scene by establishing an annual arts week and open studio programme.

The event developed into the annual Festival, which since June 1994 has become a regular feature in the local calendar and has seen the team work with everyone from emerging to internationally acclaimed artists.

As one of the first and now longest running local visual

arts festivals in the UK, Camberwell Arts Festival works in partnership with local residents and artists studios, galleries and arts organisations to programme a nine-day festival of exhibitions, events, open studios, walks, talks and workshops.

You can find out more about the arts festival at www.camberwellarts.org.uk

Major investment for Camberwell College of Arts In June 2015, UAL announced a major investment of over £62million into the regeneration of Camberwell College of Arts and its adjoining land. Due to open in autumn 2017, the project, designed by RIBA award-winning Stephen Marshall Architects, is the first major work on the College for a generation, and will enlarge the existing 1969 building creating a new academic extension which

will house a 262-seater lecture theatre, studios and library.

The expansion of the current site sees brand new UAL student accommodation being built to further enhance the campus feel. There will also be major alterations to the front façade of the building entrance and reception on Peckham Road, making the building fully accessible, as well as a new gallery and courtyard area.

Camberwell College of Arts, one of UAL’s six world-renowned Colleges, attracts students from all over the world who go onto become some of the leading artists of their generation.

Illustrious alumni of the College include painters Howard Hodgkin, Terry Frost, Maggi Hambling and Gillian Ayres; filmmaker Mike Leigh and musicians Florence Welch and Syd Barrett.

“Camberwell has a natural history claim to fame in the form of the Camberwell Beauty, a butterfly which is rarely found in the UK - it is so named because two examples were first identified on Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell in 1748.”

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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Spotlight on ...

Actress’s love of the place she calls home One of Camberwell’s most high profile residents is the actress Jenny Agutter, who has lived in the area for 17 years and loves its atmosphere and strong sense of community.

Photograph by Tim Jenkins, timjenkinsphoto@gmail Having spent her early years constantly moving from place to place then enjoying a career filming all over the world, Camberwell has given her a strong sense of belonging.

The daughter of an Army officer, Jenny was just 11 and at boarding school when she was picked out of her dance class by a Walt Disney scout. Aged 15, she played Roberta in the 1968 BBC television production of The Railway Children and repeated the role two years later in the famous film version.

Hollywood roles in The Eagle Has Landed and Logan’s Run followed and in recent years she has been back on our television screens in Spooks and BBC hit drama Call The Midwife, a new series of which is currently filming.

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Her time in Camberwell began in 2000 when she and her husband Johan bought a Georgian house in the area as a family home for themselves and their son.

For Jenny, the move gave her roots that she had not previously had. She said: “We had been living in the Chelsea, South Kensington area, but there was not really a strong sense of community there. Houses were being sold all the time, shops and restaurants were continually changing hands.

“Camberwell was different and it really has become home.

One of the attractions was that we loved the Georgian houses.

In Chelsea, the houses were right on the street and you walked into the living room and looked right out onto parked

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

cars but Camberwell’s Georgian streets were different.

“They had gardens and there was space between the house and the street. I do love the architecture – you could imagine the Georgian carriages sweeping down the street.

“We knew the Camberwell area because friends lived there but I think there is a perception that it is further from the city centre than it actually is. People think it is something separate yet if you look on the map, it is right there in the middle of the bow of the river Thames.

“That appealed to me because it was a short journey into the city and to the South bank and theatre district. You can be there in a matter of minutes and if you drive you very rarely get caught in traffic.

“I got onto a bus and asked how long it would take to reach the Aldwych Theatre and was surprised when the driver said no more than twenty minutes.

“You can also go in by train.

There is something special about walking to a railway station and you are in the city centre in no time. Maybe it is something to do with my railway background!

“I like a lot of things about Camberwell, not just its proximity to the city cente.

I love the diversity of the place, the mix of different cultures and professions. There are lawyers, people in the medical profession and in various aspects of media, and with a teaching hospital and art college there are many students. There is a real sense of commitment to the area, to creating a vibrant community “Camberwell really does feel like home and after spending my early years moving around this is the longest I have lived in the same place.”

However, she and Johan do not live in the house they moved into in 2000. After 11 years of living in a grand and beautifully designed five-bedroom Georgian townhouse in Camberwell and with their son embarking on his own life, they decided that the town had come to downsize.

Jenny said: “With our son gone, we did not really need all that space but we love Camberwell so much that we sold our house and moved into a top floor flat nearby. I love looking out over the rooftops but there is one drawback.

With Georgian houses you spend a lot of time running up and down the stairs but as we are living in a flat with a lift I have had to come up with a different fitness regime!”

“I like a lot of things about Camberwell, not just its proximity to the city cente. I love the diversity of the place, the mix of different cultures and professions.”

Remembering when ...

Remembering when Harrods first business was a Drapers in Borough High Street

By Ken Hayes Hon.Secretary Charles Henry Harrod was born in Essex in 1799. Charles and his siblings were orphaned as his mother and father who both died within a year of each other when he was only 13 years old.

On 24th April 1824 he opened a Drapery shop at 228 Borough High Street a building now occupied by the Tas Café by Maidstone buildings. *This was recently discovered by Charles Harrod’s greatgreat grandson Robin Harrod during his research of the history of the world famous Harrods Department store in Knightsbridge.

Soon after Charles Harrod had opened his business he went into a partnership with William Wicking, due to the 1825 recession, when the shop was named, Harrod and Wicking Linen Drapers. Then in 1826 the business was then renamed Harrod C.H. Mercer and Haberdasher when the partnership was dissolved.

In the early 1830’s the tea trade in Britain was growing rapidly as the East India company had lost its monopoly on tea and Charles and his wife spotted a business opportunity.

They moved in 1832 to the north of the River Thames and started trading as a Grocery shop and tea dealer in Cable Street East London. Charles had a brush with the law in 1836 when he was charged and convicted with receiving stolen goods. He was sentenced to deportation to Tasmania in Australia. He avoided being deported by the appeals of his wife and his many of his friends on account of his good character and bad health.

His sentence was commuted to a year’s imprisonment in Millbank prison. On his release, he started to rebuild his business and as trade improved he was able to open his own wholesale grocery business.

Robin Harrord has discovered that other members of Charles Harrod’s family were in Southwark at the time he first set up in business as his older brother had a Jewellery shop in Tooley Street and his wife Elizabeth, his younger brother and two younger sisters helped him run his business in Borough High Street.

“In the early 1830’s the tea trade in Britain was growing rapidly as the East India company had lost its monopoly on tea and Charles and his wife spotted a business opportunity They moved in 1832 to the north of the River Thames and started trading as a Grocery shop and tea dealer in Cable Street East London. ”

In 1854, 30 years after setting up in business at the age of 25, Charles Harrod moved to Knightsbridge when he bought a business in Brompton Road.

The business thrived and expanded and Charles handed over the running of his business to his son Charles Digby Harrod who bought neighbouring shops and expanded into new departments. He based his business not on luxury goods, but on good quality goods at a low price.

In 1883 disaster hit when a fire burnt the store to the ground in the run up to Christmas, however he fulfilled every Christmas order by using temporary premises nearby and used the disaster to rebuild the store and extend and

Tas Café

modernise it. By 1900 Charles Digby Harrod decided to retire, but none of his eight children wished to take over the business and he sold it.

A Limited Company was then formed to run it.

Another son of Charles Henry Harrod, Henry Harrod opened a grocery shop at the Elephant and Castle in the early 1900’s at 7 Newington Butts.

Harrods Department Store is now owned by the Qatari Royal Family’s Qatar Holdings Group who bought it from Mohamed Al Fayed in 2010 for £1.5 billion. *The Jewel of Knightsbridge by Robin Harrod published by the History Press: £20

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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Health & Wellbeing

Is sitting the new smoking?

Doctor of Chiropractic, Ingvild Næstvold give us an insight into how sitting all day can be detrimental to your health.

Your fridge is stocked with wholesome food, you’ve scheduled to go to the gym a few times this week and there’s a large bottle of water on your desk to monitor your intake. Sounds like you’re onto a healthy winning streak, right? Well you’re part of the way there, but a daily habit of yours could be having a detrimental impact on your health. Here’s why sitting is the new smoking!

If you’re reading this sitting down, you’re basically slowly killing yourself! There’s no sugarcoated way of saying this. The majority of us sit for more than 9 hours every day, be that whilst we’re travelling, working, eating and socialising. This is more than we spend sleeping! Sitting is so prevalent we don’t question how much we’re doing it, or its impact on us. Everyone else is - sitting seems like the norm.

Take a moment, pause: add up the hours you’ve spent sat on your behind today or yesterday.

Don't forget the sitting when you travelled to and from work, or collapsing on the sofa at home it all adds up.

Sitting: the not so good, the bad and the plain ugly ‘So what?’, I hear you cry.

Is sitting really that bad?

Apart from the obvious – sore shoulders, neck and back and an increase in obesity, sitting leads to a host of minor and chronic musculoskeletal problems.

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If that’s not enough to make you jump - not sit - up and start moving, our inactivity has been shown to have direct links to increased risks of chronic health complications, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, raised cholesterol and even cancer (specifically breast and colon cancer). Studies have also shown a link to kidney disease, poor circulation and osteoporosis. The ugly truth is that those of us sitting for more than 11 cumulative hours a day, have a 40% higher risk of dying within 3 years!

Hang on, I go to the gym and I’m pretty healthy anyway!

Sitting down all day means that you are not moving your joints in their full range of motion (the key to a healthy musculoskeletal system) as regularly as you should do. Unfortunately you’re not protected by simply going to the gym for an hour every day.

Sorry! Of course, your daily exercise routine will lower risks of the above health conditions but it doesn’t completely negate the risks associated with sitting.

Just as smoking doesn’t prevent you getting cancer, when we sit for more of the day than we move, we re-program our central nervous system and our brain to “slow down”. This leads to you functioning at a level of balance that is below ideal.

How your body moves and how frequently, what you eat, how well you breath and how you deal with stress all impact your body’s

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

functions - blood pressure, heart rate, mood, cholesterol levels and hormone levels change as a direct response. Yes, it’s really as intricate as that.

Poor motion + poor diet + poor emotion = poor health.

I have to sit in my office, is it all doom and gloom for me?

Where do you start to undo some of the negative effects of so much sitting? You’re in luck, it’s easier than you think! The health of your spine has a big impact on the rest of your body – no wonder, your spine is the highway between your central nervous system and your surrounding environment. When you improve your spinal health, you improve your overall health.

More movement and less sitting coupled with better nutrition and mindfulness brings the rest of the body back towards its optimal ‘homeostatic’ balance (i.e. the body’s natural equilibrium). Joints don’t spontaneously get better on their own. They tend to get worse; therefore so do all the things attached to them. Strength and stability comes from daily functional activity, such as bending, walking, stretching or strength training. Your body and its central nervous system (the system that controls everything) always wants to be in balance you just need to look after it properly, and the central nervous system will take care of the rest.

So what can I do to improve my overall health?

Here’re some suggestions Dr. Ingvild Næstvold recommend: • Don’t sit all day. Consider a standing desk. These are becoming increasingly popular in the workplace. Alternating between sitting down, and using a standing desk, ensures you move throughout the day.

Studies have also shown that standing whilst working makes you more focused and productive.

• Park your car further away from your home or office or get off the tube/bus one stop earlier. Your pedometer will thank you for it!

• Use the stairs rather than the lift or escalator. You will hopefully end up moving more than sitting each day.

• Eating your lunch ‘al desko’ (at your desk) results in you being glued to it even longer.

Eat your lunch ‘al fresco’ (outside) to get a much needed respite from your emails - and you can have a healthy dose of Vitamin D too, if it’s not raining!

• Walk and talk: be that when on the phone, social activities, or why not suggest an informal meeting whilst walking outside. The smokers get to go outside for their cigarette break, so why not have a quick walk and talk?

• Get up from your desk as much as possible – every 20-30 minutes is ideal. It actually allows your brain to concentrate better, so you should end up more productive. Win win!

• Drink more water. A simple one, but first off you have to get up to fill up, and secondly you will then have to get up to go to the loo more often which equals more movement.

• Smart watches & Health Apps you can schedule many smart watches and apps to buzz when you’ve been inactive for a certain period of time.

This is a great reminder to not only move, but give you brain some rest and come back to your desk refreshed. Also download mindfulness apps these mini breaks serve both body and mind!

• Don’t suffer, if you have pain in your back or neck, consider taking professional advice; visit a Chiropractor.

A musculoskeletal expert will help get your joints (and muscles) back to their full range of motion, therefore easing - if not eliminating pain and discomfort. Over time, your body will become more robust and better at dealing with the day-to-day stresses of a fast-paced lifestyle.

To find out more, visit www.thisislondonwellness.com

Ask the Expert

GDPR, What is it and how to comply?

As an IT Support Provider it is our responsibility to educate and help our clients to stay one step ahead of all new regulations and ensure they comply.

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) should be on every business agenda, with under a year to go before it is due to come into effect on the 25 May 2018.

Many people think that Brexit means that this is not something we need to worry about.

Unfortunately, that is not the case as it will take at least 2 years (March 2019) for the UK to formally withdraw from the EU. At this stage we do not know exactly what effect Brexit will have on GDPR but we do know there will be at least a year that you will

need to be compliant with the new regulations.

The penalties are potentially huge and if you fail to comply with the regulations SMB businesses like yours could face fines of up to £20m. Therefore it is important that all businesses comply and make changes to the way they protect any personal data they hold.

What is GDPR? The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is applicable to all EU Residents’ data wherever it is processed throughout the world.

COMPLETE I.T.

Any company that holds any personal data, which could include that of, clients, prospects, leads or internal team members, will need to be protected to the highest levels.

• The GDPR applies to all businesses of all sizes, no one is exempt and we suggest it is not ignored.

• All businesses will hold and store personal information in some way, shape or form, the more personal information you store, the higher the risk.

• If you process and store personal data as part of the day to day running of your business you are more at risk.

• If you receive a request to see, update or delete personal data, you need to be in a position to facilitate this within 30 days.

• You need to ensure you are protected from a data breach, this could be accidental, malicious or compromised and covers individuals, processes and cyber threats.

• You will need to report any data breach within 72 hours to the relevant authority.

How can Complete I.T. help?

At Complete I.T. we are constantly researching and testing solutions and processes to help our clients run their businesses in the best way possible. There is no one solution to help you become GDPR compliant but there are many steps you should be taking. If you would like further advice and guidance on the pitfalls of GDPR then please contact Complete I.T. to arrange a meeting.

LOCAL IT SUPPORT SERVICES

Complete I.T. Manager - No In-house IT expertise, leave your IT Systems to us and focus on your core business Complete I.T. Support - Technical Experts to work alongside your existing IT team

Complete I.T. Director - Is IT hampering the growth

of your business? From system selection, data security and governance to the creation and delivery of an IT strategy, the CITD provides you with everything you need.

From Security, Monitoring, Virtualisation, Sourcing and Recovery, we have you covered.

We will happily come and have a discussion with you about your IT needs, give us a call on 0207 9930010 or email enquiries@complete-it.co.uk to book a meeting or for more information.

www.complete-it.co.uk

Complete I.T. Ltd, 5 – 7 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RQ Proud to be new members of Southwark Chamber of Commerce Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

23

Women in Business

Successful Business Women in Southwark This issue we talk to businesswomen who make a difference in their field.

Easing the aches and pains of life

Joanna Lowry-Corry’s job is all about helping people to tackle the health problems that can detract from the joy of life; the aches and pains that can drag us down.

Every day, she helps people in her role as a Chiropractor at the London Wellness Centre. Established in 2000, they have clinics in London Bridge and Canary Wharf.

Joanna Lowry-Corry Chiropractor London Wellness Centre “We are definitely seeing an increase in the number of patients. More and more people are taking a proactive view of their health and are prepared to pay for help.”

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Joanna has been running the business with her husband since 2015. The centres offer services ranging from chiropractic to gynaecology, podiatry and psychology, as well nutritional and dietary support.

With degrees in Neuroscience and Chiropractic, Joanna believes the reason chiropractic is so popular, is a growing determination among people to be proactive and take responsibility for their own health - not allowing aches and pains to affect their daily lives.

She said: “We are definitely seeing an increase in the

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

number of patients. More and more people are taking a proactive view of their health and are prepared to pay for help.

“As a society, we spend so much time at our desks, working hard, crunching numbers, being busy, that the health problems slowly build up without us being acutely aware of them.

“People realise that they want to run around after their children but perhaps cannot lift them because they have developed a sore neck from sitting at their desks.

“Or maybe they are suffering from indigestion or are perhaps runners who cannot run because of knee pain, which means they become less active, do not eat well and maybe become depressed.

“If people can afford to go private, or have an insurance policy that will finance it, they will do so if they see that it will improve their quality of life.

People are becoming more proactive about their health.

“The NHS - the best health service in the world - is brilliant if you need emergency care.

However, if you suffer from musculoskeletal problems: lower back pain, indigestion, bunions or have stress or anxiety problems, then a proactive approach is not catered for by the NHS, yet many people need this support.

“These things will not kill you tomorrow but they can have a slow impact on life and the NHS waiting list can be long. Going private allows you to have them seen to much quicker.

With us, we strive to get you an appointment on the day of contacting us.”

The team’s ethos is Move Well, Eat Well, Think Well – they know that many Londoners are striving to achieve this, but with their help, this can become their reality.

Print Solutions

Your local single source office provider “Our business is built on trust”

Chamber member Copytech are a one-stop solution for local customers, someone who can be relied on.

Dealing with local businesses is more convenient, friendlier and greener.

Dealing with a local supplier has many advantages. If things go wrong, their experts can be on site within an hour. Run out of paper? They are only down the road.

Lost a toner- no problem. And if you have a special job that you can’t do in house, then Copytech can do it for you.

Over the years the business has built on its core offerings and evolved to become a single source provider or “one stop shop” providing almost anything businesses need from printer and copiers to Business printing, office furniture and general stationery.

Kevin Kelleher – Sales Director at Copytech in SE1 has been in the business of supplying and supporting office printers and copiers for more than 3 decades, meaning he has the experience to help your business. Kevin said: “We’ve been around for over 30 years, 28 of them at our current location in SE1.

People trust us to give them good advice and a straightforward deal, competitive pricing and equipment that does what it

says on the tin and more to the point does what our customers need it to do.”

“We’re often told that customers find salespeople in this industry to be overly aggressive and that it is difficult to navigate the competing claims as to which brand has the best quality, greatest reliability or lowest cost of ownership. What stands out is that there is a lack of trust.”

“At Copytech we like to think we do things differently. We take a much longer view than the average and look to develop sustainable relationships with our customers.

What this means in practice is that our business is built on trust.”

“Every time we do business with a new or existing customer it needs to be a “win – win” . Its got to be good for the customer every time – because that is what makes customers come back time after time.”

“Many companies in this business employ ‘here-today gone tomorrow’ salespeople in the pursuit of growth who sell whatever makes them the biggest margin. But if things don’t work out where are they when you need them? Guess what - they are no longer around.”

At Copytech you deal with dealer principals….

If you have straightforward needs forcopying, printing and scanning their new quotation engine website will enable you to spec up your own machine, compare suitable models and then generate an instant easy to understand quote.

If your needs are more complicated, or you just need good old-fashioned advice, Copytech are there to help.

Everything from Airprint to Google and Office 365 integrations for a fully managed print service.

Copytech, your Managed Print Partner Copytech 59 - 61 Old Kent Road, London SE1 4RF

0800 163 785

www.copytechgroup.co.uk

sales@copytechgroup.co.uk Proud members of the Southwark Chamber of Commerce

Copytech have been providing printers, copiers and multifunctionals locally and across London and the South East for over 30 years.

As an independent dealer sourcing products form many of the world's leading brands we offer a single source for all of your print requirements from copiers, scanners and printers to Business Print and supplies.

• Copiers, printers and multifunctionals • Document solutions • Business print • Office furniture • Stationery and supplies Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

25

Hospitality

Swanning Around in Southwark

By Susan Isaacs – Arts and Culture Correspondent The strong drum beat and jazzy strains of twenties song Putting on the Ritz greet you as you slip upstairs into the graceful Tudor style restaurant, attached to the Globe theatre. It is aptly named the Swan.

“We tripped happily down from this delightful world into the bustling, wooden panelled bar downstairs, and out into the Tudor Courtyard, shared with the Globe Theatre.”

Hardly what they listened to in the Court of Elizabeth I, and yet somehow, in this iconic eatery, even modern styles blend and become strangely Tudor.

Stairs lead up from the bar into a peaceful restaurant, a romantic world apart. The tudor style windows with tiny leaded panes look straight out onto a glittering riverside scene.

There are calming white and cream walls, and white plates.

You relax into comfortable greenish armchairs and see the lights lining the shore of the River Thames. The round dome of St Pauls Cathedral faces you dreamily across the water, and a Thames Clipper goes by,

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a vivid reminder of Shakespearean days when goods were delivered by water.

Waiters dressed discretely in black trousers and white shirts patiently explain the contents of the menu, and are unfailingly polite, even if as we did, you choose to have dinner after a play, when most people have gone home.

We started with the endive salad, pearl las, (a Welsh blue cheese) red wine poached pear and walnut dressing.

The cheese dressing was a little sharp, but the walnuts were satisfyingly crunchy.

My dining partner had the fried duck egg as a starter,

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

which was dainty, with asparagus cooked freshly and tenderly to perfection.

I sipped on a Côte de Provence rosé wine, and my partner quaffed a light New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

We happily sampled each other's lamb chops and duck breast. The chops were perfectly cooked with a delicious sauce, and the Barbary duck breast with a carrot puree and honey and pepper glaze, slipped down equally easily.

There were orange flat breads in interesting shapes, and fresh chutney with a tang.

The wooden cheese board was nicely shaped out of an

intriguing leaf of wood, and the green grapes and selection of cheeses looked out encouragingly at us, as if inviting to be eaten.

The rhubarb crumble, crumbled beautifully, and the mild tasting rhubarb was reassuringly gentle on well stretched tummies.

We tripped happily down from this delightful world into the bustling, wooden panelled bar downstairs, and out into the Tudor Courtyard, shared with the Globe Theatre. On one side of the building, red electric letters glowed in the spring evening. LOVE they spelled out, unmistakably.

It said it all.

Hospitality

Forty-nine Foxes and sixty types of Gin

- the Oxbo Restaurant at the Bankside Hilton

By Susan Isaacs – Arts and Culture Correspondent A giraffe looks at you quizzically as you venture, intrigued, over the black and white chessboard floor, towards the swirly green carpet.

“A few tables are divided off so discreetly by softly coloured screens, that, despite the fact they are bang in the middle of the room, you can't help thinking it would be a great place to have an illicit affair.”

Next to him, a bison eyes passersby defiantly, and a stag looks snootily down his antlers at everyone. A fox is sitting on a shelf next to the wine glasses, only too ready for a sly swig of gin, when no one is looking.

No, you are not in Chessington Zoo. The animal heads looking down at you from the walls are not trophies from a big game hunt.

They are all made from recycled old newspapers.

The scene is the extremely spacious dining room of the Oxbo restaurant, at the Hilton London Bankside in Great Suffolk St. The designers have cleverly developed the hotel origins as a distillery.

The filaments in the electric lights are bare, the curtains in the bar are chain mail, and the bar boasts sixty varieties of gin. One wall is studded with over sixteen thousand coins, some dating from the eighteenth century.

A few tables are divided off so discreetly by softly coloured screens, that, despite the fact they are bang in the middle of the room, you can't help thinking it would be a great place to have an illicit affair.

We started with roasted beetroot with Cornish Yarg, red rocket, moutabel, pomegranate oil. The colours were fresh and pretty, the beetroot purple, yellow, and pink, and the sauce had a punch to it. I imagined yarg as a little known farmyard animal, and was relieved to find it a cheese tasting just like cheddar.

My lunch partner had cod, beautifully roasted with eggs, capers and lemon, tomato and samphire salsa. The tiny little cubed potatoes and chopped egg looked very pretty indeed.

I savoured nicely cooked tender duck breast with pretty, curly, sweet potato crisps.

The real treat visually though was the dessert.

The apple mousse with pistacchio cake looked just like a farm. The white mound of apple mousse with blue spun sugar, resembled the house and sails of a windmill, and the pistacchio cake formed a pretty green hedge.

The raspberry creme brulée was like a purple whirlpool, dusted with orange sails.

The brulee itself tasted disappointingly like glue, but it looked so delightful that it seemed a shame to eat it anyway.

I strongly recommend this hotel to anyone with kids.

When they first built the hotel, they found the foot-prints of a ghostly fox every morning, although they never saw the fox itself. In honour of this ghostly presence, they have dotted life like papier-mâchier foxes all over the hotel, and there are no less than forty-nine. Just think what a wonderful rest you can have in the bar, sampling sixty varieties of gin, while your children chase excitedly round the hotel trying to find all the forty nine foxes.

For further information visit www.oxbobankside.co.uk www.thedistillerybankside.co.uk

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

27

Voice from Westminster

Looking forward to interesting times Neil Coyle MP It has been a dramatic time since my last column.

None of us expected May’s shock announcement of an early General Election. But I’m very pleased to have had the chance to stand on my record and gain re-election as the Member of Parliament for Bermondsey and Old Southwark with a tripled majority from 2015! It was an amazing result securing over half all votes cast and over 12,000 more votes than my nearest rival.

My campaign was energetic, including people from all walks of life and across the globe.

I had volunteers phone banking in New York, stuffing envelopes from Norway, a Brazilian door-knocking almost daily and even campaigners from New Zealand!

I was grateful to receive support from local businesses – from posters in café windows, to outright endorsements from local companies.

Many recognised my work in the last parliament and opposition to Brexit which will harm local firms.

But we have emerged from the election with chaos.

Theresa May has lost authority, her Commons majority and, with it, business confidence.

She has also seen her mandate to negotiate Brexit severely undermined. It’s hard to see how she can try and continue in office – which makes the prospect of another early General Election very likely, which I’m sure will be greeted warmly…

There is certainly plenty to do whilst we wait for the May-hem (excuse the pun!) to settle.

Business Rates remain a live concern; the consultation was deferred due to the election but you can still try and work out if council mitigation plans will benefit you by contacting Johnson.Situ@southwark.gov.uk Local businesses are also keen to understand the implications

of the Bakerloo Line extension and Elephant and Castle shopping centre plans.

I’m also already working with businesses affected by the terrorist attack on 3rd June.

London Bridge and Borough Market are a microcosm of London and epitomise the diversity and vibrancy of our city. Millions enjoy this area every year: this must not change. The horror of the attack did not diminish the local spirit. Many businesses opened their doors to people

seeking refuge and cabbies offered free rides to safety.

I will support local businesses as they reopen and will be examining the compensation offered to those affected.

I will continue to stand up for all Southwark business interests locally and at Westminster.

If you wish to get in touch please email me at: Neil.Coyle.MP@Parliament.

UK or call me on: 020 7219 8733.

“I’m already working with businesses affected by the terrorist attack on 3rd June. London Bridge and Borough Market are a microcosm of London and epitomise the diversity and vibrancy of our city.”

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

29

Considering a construction project?

LJPM Ltd is a Construction Consultancy serving London and the South East.

We have over 40 years of experience in design and project management on a broad range of project types from small to large scale developments.

Our services includes providing professional and technical advice,

The Services we offer include: • Client Advisor

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assisting with project planning from concept to completion. Working closely with private and commercial clients on various projects, including private residential, schools, offices and other building types.

Collaborating with other Architects and

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consultants, providing Principal Designer and Client advice in connection with CDM 2015 Regulations.

Our approach and expertise will add value to your project saving you time and money in achieving your goal.

LJPM Construction Consultants

3 More London, Riverside, London SE1 2RE

www.ljpm.co.uk

email: info@ljpm.co.uk

Contact Les Johnson on

020 313 79808 or 07931 231 898

Proud members of the Southwark Chamber of Commerce

Scaffolding Services for Commercial and Residential across London

We are BCM scaffolding services Ltd and are one of the leading access providers within the Greater London area.

We are based in Southwark and as a company we not only aspire to be the best, we also strive to be the safest scaffolding company within the industry.

Our clients appreciate the efforts our staff go to in making your job as straight forward as possible.

BCM Scaffolding Services Ltd 69 Southampton Way SE5 7SW London T: 020 7252 4688 F: 020 7252 4644 Email: info@bcmscaffolding.co.uk www.bcmscaffolding.co.uk

PROU D T O BE A MEMBE R OF T HE SOU THWARK CHAMBE R OF COMME RCE FOR OV E R 2 0 YE ARS

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Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Awarded the Gold Standard for the Considerate Constructor Scheme 2010/2013

Construction

Construction continues to boom Construction is a sector where Britain has a strong competitive edge.

The council was handed the keys to new apartments on Blackfriars Road, Southwark, ready for local people in real need of a home to move in.

The new homes, designed by Maccreanor Lavington architects and built to extremely high specification by Barratt Homes for the council, will be let at council rent, 40 per cent of the market rent, and available first to people living in the direct vicinity. The homes are the first ones sold via S106 to a local authority by Barratt Homes and have completed over a year ahead of schedule.

The new homes are in one block of five new apartment blocks on the Blackfriars development. The nine storey property will house eight one bed, 40 two bed and eight three bedroom apartments, with a total of 336 homes across the whole development plus a £4.9m off site affordable housing payment, meaning the site provides 35 per cent affordable housing.

Southwark Council also recently announced a new partnership with housing association Clarion Housing Group to build more than 600 new homes in the borough.

The partnership has been forged through the council’s Regeneration in Partnership Programme, which aims to provide new homes, improved public facilities and employment opportunities for local people through development partnerships.

Clarion will be building 606 new homes on sites identified by the council in the centre and south of the borough.

We have world-class expertise in architecture, design and engineering, and British companies are leading the way in sustainable construction solutions. It is also a sector with considerable growth opportunities, with the global construction market forecast to grow by over 70% by 2025.

More evidence of London’s construction boom has come with news that the city saw 3.9 million sq ft of new office space completed in just six months, delivering the largest volume of office space in central London for 13 years. The London Office

Crane Survey, published by Deloitte Real Estate, recorded 28 new construction starts over the six month period to March, compared to 40 in the previous survey.

The construction sector is vital to the economy of Southwark. Since the Shard was completed five years ago, the tallest building in the UK has proven to be a focal point for the area and central to other building work across the borough.

Much of the construction work is being driven by regeneration. For example, Southwark Council’s ambitious 11,000 new homes programme gained further ground as 56 new apartments became available for council tenants.

“More evidence of London’s construction boom has come with news that the city saw 3.9 million sq ft of new office space completed in just six months, delivering the largest volume of office space in central London for 13 years.”

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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Chamber Events

Upcoming Events Save the dates

Join our informative and engaging range of events.

A perfect opportunity to make new business contacts.

DATE

Tuesday 4 July 18:15 - 22.30

Thursday 20 July 08:30 – 10:00

Thursday 3 August TBC

Monday 11 September TBC October 08:00 – 10:00

November 08:00 – 10:00 December TBC January TBC

EVENT

Annual Riverboat Party Embark/Disembark at Festival Pier Social Media Peckham Walk Meeting point to be confirmed

Historical Walk around Borough Meet at The Trinity Pub, 202-206 Borough High St, SE1 1JX Crowd Funding Property and Legal Dinner at the Mayflower Pub 117 Rotherhithe St, Rotherhithe, SE16 4NF House of Commons Tour Meet at Westminster Hall

Correction The information which appeared in the last issue of Southwark Business Today for Complete IT Ltd, was incorrect, apologies, the correct information is herewith.

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Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

We’ve designed our events to help you broaden your network, learn something new or get involved with key topical issues for businesses in Southwark.

Our networking events are great for regular members to make and maintain useful contacts, and we always welcome first-timers.

Times and locations to be confirmed.

Please check the website www.southwarkcommerce.com for updated information.

Complete IT Ltd

Jordan Arthur, General Manager 5 – 7 Southwark Street London SE1 1RQ Telephone: 020 7993 0010 www.complete-it.co.uk

WIN WIN Are you WIN

sitting comfortably?

Didn't think so.

Ever thought about standing desks?

Yes, but they’re expensive though, right?

Wrong.

Deskmate aims to change the way people work for a fraction of the price of a traditional stand up desk.

It follows three simple rules to make its range;

• Well built

• Easy to use

• Efficient to store.

Deskmate believe businesses shouldn’t incur major expense to assist staff to be healthier.

Its aim is to make working life better through a series of products designed to increase productivity, improve posture and promote wellbeing.

Why Deskmate?

•

•

No instructions – the standing desk converters are ready to go in 10 seconds.

Simple storage – foldable, flat pack designs means they store almost anywhere, saving on space and time.

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Customisable – bespoke company logo and desk printing available.

Cost effective – up to 20 people can stand for the price of 1 traditional standing desk!

Environmentally friendly – fully recyclable cardboard

In conjunction with Southwark Business Today, Deskmate is offering readers a chance to win 5 Deskmates for you and your team.

All you have to do enter your email address at: www.deskmate.co/southwark, and a winner will be picked at random on 31st July 2017.

What are you waiting for? Think Outside The Box

Last Word

Jordan Arthur

Complete IT Ltd. General Manager

Having served in the Armed forces for several years and fulfilling a childhood ambition, Jordan turned to his second love in IT. Jordan has worked in the IT industry for over 12 years all within the service delivery sector.

He is passionate about providing a very high level of service. Jordan is a firm believer that IT should help businesses to be more productive and enable the businesses growth.

As General Manager of the London Office Jordan is setting about making this common practise amongst all the companies they support.

In his spare time, he accepts that he is Daddy Taxi to his lovely wife and two amazing children.

Q1

What was your first job and what was the pay packet?

Age 15, worked as a car wash man. £15 per day (weekend work)

Q2

If you were prime minister, what would be your first decision?

To grant everyone their birthday off!

Q3

What is the biggest challenge in your business?

One of the challenges we face is ensuring our clients are educated and protected against the ever-increasing risk of Ransomware and other security vulnerabilities.

Q4

If you could do another job, what would it be?

F1 driver.

Q5

What's your favourite London building?

Battersea Power Station – and the current redevelopment plan.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

33

Join Us

Join Us

The Chamber is made up of active and successful business people from a wide range of sectors, who are based in Southwark, believe in Southwark and wish Southwark to prosper.

Our Committee Chairman Richard Kalmar President Neil Coyle MP

(MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark)

Vice President Lord Roy Kennedy (House of Lords)

Vice President Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP (MP for Camberwell and Peckham)

Vice President Baroness Jowell DBE PC

(former MP for Dulwich and West Norwood)

Patron Cllr Kath Whittam

(The Worshipful Mayor of Southwark)

Patron Sir Simon Hughes (Former MP)

Council and Community Representatives Councillor Johnson Situ

(Cabinet Member for Business, Employment and Culture)

Abdul Mohamed

(Past Mayor of Southwark & Past Councillor)

Executive Members

Vice Chair Vice Chair Vice Chair Honorary Secretary Honorary Solicitor Honorary Treasurer Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Administrator

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Les Johnson Roger Beckett Yoko De Souza Ken Hayes Peter Mantell John Steward Sharon Achillea Duncan Field Prem Goyal Peter Hadfield Dan Harder William Harwood Susan Isaacs Nicole Leggett Barry Martin Margaret Rowse Cait Wilkinson Sonia Sutton

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Making the most of your SCC membership

Once you’ve joined us you have access to the opportunities we provide to help support you and your business. Whether you simply want to attend our networking events, run a seminar or sponsor or run an event, we’d love you to get involved. We like our members to make the most of their membership and get as involved as much as they can.

Membership Application • Sole trader

£100 per annum

• Large companies - 51 employees plus

£300 per annum

• Small/Medium sized companies 2 to 50 employees £150 per annum • Corporate/PLC’s by agreement.

• All new members pay a one off administration fee of £25 Company:

Address:

Post Code:

Telephone:

Email:

Number of Employees: Full Name:

Position:

Payment Details: BANK DETAILS: SORT CODE:

HSBC - SOUTHWARK C OF C 40-06-21 ACCOUNT NO:

21357646

To join, please send your details to: Southwark Chamber of Commerce Southbank Techno Park, 90 London Road, London. SE1 6LN Tel : 07477 581977 Email : admin@southwarkcommerce.com www.SouthwarkCommerce.com Twitter : @southwarkcomm Facebook : southwarkcommerce

SOUTH LONDON'S LEADING AGENTS

KALMARs are an expanding firm of South London

estate agents and an independent property adviser.

Our expansion is being achieved through improving client service by planned growth and training. We have many years’ experience as South London estate agents with

average time for staff at the company being 8 years,

complemented by a young enthusiastic team. We have an

unrivaled record in sales and lettings of commercial and residential properties in the South London area.

AGENCY

Our principal objective is to provide a professional service

with quick results whilst maintaining complete integrity.

As South London Estate Agents we offer Development,

Office, Industrial, Retail and Residential Sales and Letting.

DEVELOPMENT

We offer a comprehensive package on development

projects starting at the site appraisals stage, often prior to

acquisition, working with other professions in developing plans, continuing with sales and marketing advice, and

concluding by arranging a letting or sale.

Jamaica Wharf

2 Shad Thames

London SE1 2YU CONTACT US

Telephone: 020 7403 0600

Email: info@kalmars.com

www.kalmars.com