Southwark Business Today December 2017

Southwark

BUSINESS TODAY

Issue 16: Winter 2017

Regeneration plans point to an exciting future Page 16

• Discover Vietnam’s thriving food and beverage market Page 12

• Delegates from Southwark Chamber visit Lagenhagen Page 14

• Up Close with local artist Anita Klein Page 23

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Welcome to

Welcome

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Contents

The Southwark Chamber of Commerce magazine for all Businesses in Southwark contribute so much whilst juggling their business commitments. I would also like to thank Ken Hayes and Susan Isaacs for their outstanding editorial contributions to the magazine this year.

As we approach the end of 2017 the political and economic backdrop presents ongoing challenges for Southwark businesses and uncertainty is central to many business conversations. Politically, the mess surrounding Brexit bumbles on.

There are local authority elections in May.

Optimism among the challenges

The Chamber has had another very busy year having held more than 12 meetings for our members, including sell out trips around the Palace of Westminster, 150 people on the summer Thames Cruise and talks on social media, apprentices, crowd funding, commercial property, health and regeneration.

We also have many events planned for the start of the new year, including another trip around Westminster, the Tower of London, GDPR, technological innovation in the workplace, and Southwark Business Awards to celebrate the best of our dynamic community of 18,000 businesses.

We particularly thank Lewisham and Southwark college for their lead support on the Awards, and British Land and Southwark Council for their contribution. We look forward to the many other big businesses based here joining in what promises to be the business event of the year, which will encourage pride and commitment to the area.

The continued success of our meetings in providing useful information and great networking opportunities for Southwark business, does not just happen and I would like to repeat my ongoing sincere thanks to the committee of dedicated active local businesses, who like me are immensely proud of our borough and wish to contribute to its prosperity.

I would especially like to thank to Sonia Sutton, who devotes huge amounts of time and is an absolute pleasure to work with, Les Johnson and Roger Becket who also

Disclaimer

There are a host of new regulations and changes in the business landscape that continue to challenge businesses. These include GDPR, apprenticeships, strict energy performance requirements, money laundering controls, changes to the business rates systems, the London plan etc. etc.

All these controls are no doubt laudable but the road to hell is paved with good intentions and meanwhile it is business that is expected to provide jobs and prosperity and in so doing benefit the local community at large.

The chamber is playing its part in helping its members find their way through this political and regulatory background.

This may all sound negative but at a recent meeting of the Southwark Business Forum, (which comprises many big businesses in the area, the five Southwark BIDS and Southwark Chamber) Professor Kevin Fenton, a leading international expert on wellbeing, said that he found Southwark to be one of the most exciting areas that he has ever worked in.

He is right, there is a huge amount going on and the business opportunities are exceptional. However, there are also huge challenges. I was shocked to hear that in certain parts of Peckham 28% of people are described as economically inactive.

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4-6 7 8-9 11 12-13 14 16-18

20 22 23 24-25 26-27 29 30-31 32 33 34 Enquiries

Up Front News Arts & Culture Education International Focus Lagenhagen Spotlight on Elephant & Castle Remembering when...

News Up Close Women in Business Hospitality Voice from Westminster Health & Wellbeing Chamber Events Last Word Chamber Membership

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

Editor

John Dean Email: deangriss@btinternet.com

Contributing Editor Susan Isaacs

The chamber is doing its bit to address this through our meetings, our lobbying and generally providing a business focus on how this can be addressed, and there are many positive achievements such as the reduction in unemployment and 5,000 new jobs in the borough since 2014.

Publisher

Benham Publishing Limited Aintree Building, Aintree Way, Aintree Business Park, Liverpool L9 5AQ Tel: 0151 236 4141 Email: admin@benhampublishing.com Web: www.benhampublishing.com

Published

Wnter 2017 Š Benham Publishing

On that mixed note I wish you all Seasons Greetings and prosperity in the New Year, and look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at our events next year.

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.

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Advertising and Features

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. Š 2017.

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

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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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Up Front

Canada Water Masterplan British Land, who is working in partnership with Southwark Council to develop proposals for the Canada Water Masterplan, is underway with legacy strategy pilot projects under four focus areas: education, employment, business and community.

More information on the businessfocused legacy pilots is below.

Bright Lights In October and November, the Bright Lights Starting Out in Retail and Hospitality programme got underway. The five-week programme, developed and funded by British Land with The Source, provided training and mentoring to young people aged 16-24 who are interested

Tree Shepherd’s Graduation Event

in retail or hospitality careers.

Participants had classroom teaching and work placements at one of Surrey Quays’ retail, food and beverage or leisure brands. The achievements of the cohort were celebrated with a graduation event, joined by the Mayor of Southwark.

This programme is part of British Land’s wider Bright Lights programme which supports people of all ages to gain skills and access employment opportunities.

Tree Shepherd Tree Shepherd launched their first ‘Start Your Own Enterprise Programme’ providing free support to aspiring local business owners in and around SE16.

Attendance was brilliant for the

first cohort, with business plans ranging from handmade jewellery to a children’s art club coming forward. Participants attended a graduation event in December to celebrate.

Tree Shepherd is calling out to local business owners and residents with business experience who are keen to volunteer their time advising at Business Clinics and helping to support this thriving local start-up network. Mentors would typically have direct business experience and be able to volunteer for half a day a month. They’d love to hear from you if you are interested in becoming a mentor or are a resident in and around SE16 who’d like to attend a clinic.

Please contact info@treeshepherd.org.uk or call 020 3948 3023.

GoodPeople British Land is working with GoodPeople to link local residents with sustainable jobs and offer skills development opportunities in Canada Water. As a pilot

project, GoodPeople is working with suppliers and businesses in Canada Water and beyond, to match unemployed local residents with employment opportunities.

If you are an employer with opportunities (work experience, apprenticeships or roles to fill) please contact Sarah on 07946 514 067 or sarah@goodpeople.co.uk who could support you to connect with local residents.

Creating a new economic centre for Southwark, home to a range of employment opportunities and a wide variety of businesses and workspace, is a fundamental ambition of the Canada Water Masterplan.

Please get in touch if you’d like to hear more or get involved: team@canadawatermasterplan.com In early 2018, British Land will be back to share masterplan content, ahead of the planning application in Spring 2018.

New awards will celebrate Southwark’s brilliant businesses

One of London’s richest and most dynamic boroughs will host a prestigious new awards programme in 2018 to celebrate its thriving business community.

The Southwark Business Excellence Awards in association with Lewisham Southwark College will be launched in February by Southwark Chamber of Commerce, with the support of Southwark Council.

The awards aim to recognise the wide range of 18,000 firms in the borough, which stretches from Southbank to London Bridge and Surrey Docks in the east, and Bermondsey, Peckham, Camberwell and Dulwich in the south.

Southwark’s businesses include major international companies and brilliant community businesses, as well as world

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class arts and entertainment venues and eating establishments.

Richard Kalmar, Chair of Southwark Chamber, commented: “With a rich and diverse business community and intensive regeneration programmes over the past decade, Southwark has become synonymous with growth and development.

“The Southwark Business Excellence Awards will promote the area’s many business success stories and highlight the entrepreneurs who help to bring prosperity and growth to the borough. They will instil confidence and pride in the

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

borough’s business community, as well as encouraging economic growth and marketing Southwark as a world class place to do business.”

The winners of the awards, which are free to enter, will be announced next summer at a glittering black-tie Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony for 400 people, hosted by a celebrity compere at a top Southwark venue.

Cllr Johnson Situ, Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and Regeneration, said: “Southwark Council values the hugely important role that businesses play in our borough, stimulating our economy and

generating jobs and opportunities for local people.

We are pleased to support these awards, which will recognise and applaud some of our shining stars.”

Carole Kitching, Principal of headline sponsor Lewisham Southwark College, added: “As one of the top performing colleges in London we are delighted to be sponsoring the recognition of excellence in businesses across Southwark.”

Full details of the launch will be announced soon.

For more information visit: www.southwarkawards.co.uk

Up Front

The visit to the Clinic

Over five days in September, digital product design agency Vitamin London took over the Oxo Tower, filling it with art and immersive experiences based around how technology is becoming inseparable from our reality.

The exhibits were curated

by Vitamin London’s own artist in residence, whose job it is to generate ideas, freed from practical and commercial constraints.

Vitamin London founder Jacob Beckett spoke about why his company had chosen to put on their second annual Clinic event as part of London Design Festival: “As a digital product design agency, we want to stay at the forefront of innovation and creativity. Artists are able to play with creative ideas unhindered by commercial and practical pressures, and businesses can take a lot of inspiration from their vision.”

Clinic challenged attendees to glimpse into their own future and consider how technology will shape it. A stunning collection of exhibits explored a future where the digital layer is removed from our reality, where we’re no longer reliant

on screens, and where the lines between ‘virtual’ and ‘reality’ are becoming increasingly blurred.

“The way we work with artists is similar to high fashion – catwalk creations are never intended as practical items to be worn day-to-day, but they inspire and influence the High Street trends around the world. While the visions of these artists may feel futuristic today, their ideas provide inspiration that we can turn into practical digital products, apps or websites.”

One of the centrepieces and highlights of the event was Matilda Mace Skelton’s piece Window. The geometrical cloud exhibit used algorithms to display its own synthetic sky, generated by averaging hundreds of sky patterns taken from all over the world, complete with its own weather patterns.

The Algorithm Will See You Now by Pauline Batista had

humans controlling a simple robot hand – looking forward to a future of robot doctors who don’t have an expiration date.

The growing trend of consumers monitoring their own biological data through smart watches and other digital devices was examined in Lesley-Ann Daly’s exhibit Anthropomorphic Sensory Augmentation. The artwork considered how internal sensors could be the future, demonstrating technology that could internally monitor your liver, for example, alerting users when their alcohol consumption had reached harmful levels.

Aside from providing a platform to showcase the work of some of Europe’s most talented artists, Clinic provided a thought-provoking experience for anyone interested in technology and how it is shaping business and society.

Vitamin London will be hosting Clinic again as part of London Design Festival 2018. To learn more about them as a company and to keep up to date with any future events visit vitaminlondon.com

Businesses urged to pay living wage Southwark Council has written to local businesses, urging them to pay all staff the London Living Wage.

The move, which was part of Living Wage Week, came as figures showed that only 108 Southwark businesses are accredited Living Wage Employers, while 22 per cent of employees in Southwark earn below the London Living wage, higher than the inner London average of 19 per cent.

Southwark, which is one of 16 councils in London that are accredited Living Wage employers, meaning it pays a real living wage to all staff, wants to see more businesses following its example.

Cllr Johnson Situ, Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and Social Regeneration, said: “It’s really important to us to ensure that all our employees earn a decent wage, especially with the high cost of living in London.

“As well as being the right thing to do, research from the Cardiff Business School shows that paying staff a living wage has a positive impact on businesses. So, we are calling on all Southwark employers to consider paying their staff a living wage.”

The Cardiff Business School study, The Living Wage Employer Experience, published in April, found that 93 per cent of employers feel they have benefitted from living wage accreditation, through reputational benefits, recruitment and retention and broader business benefits.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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Up Front

IT contract goes in-house Southwark Council has joined Brent and Lewisham Councils’ shared IT service, in a break away from years of outsourcing the service to the private sector.

The council finished its contract with Capita over the summer and the new arrangement is now in place.

Cllr Fiona Colley, Cabinet Member for Finance, Modernisation and Performance, said: “This is a really exciting move for Southwark and we’re very pleased to be taking back direct control of our IT and working with two other councils that share our priorities and understand our business.

“Southwark Council aims to give its residents high-quality services, but we can only do that if everything is running smoothly behind the scenes.

A modern and evolving IT service is crucial to all that we do, especially as our budgets reduce and we do more and more with less.”

The ICT Shared Service between Brent and Lewisham was developed in 2015 and came into effect on 1st April 2016. The decision regarding the shared service was taken by each of the councils’ Cabinets.

Network seeks business volunteers Businesses in Southwark are being invited to support a volunteering programme that helps prepare young people for the world of work.

Despite ongoing high levels of unemployment, businesses across the Capital are continuing to struggle to fill their direct entry roles, according to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

He says that it is essential that the Capital’s next generation are better prepared to enter the world of work and as his recent London Ambitions report showed, this can be achieved

One of Peckham’s great buildings, the multi-storey car park in Rye Lane, is set to continue as a creative and cultural centre.

Lodewijk van den Belt, Site Director at Peckham Levels, said: “Turning this multi storey car park into a creative and cultural hub for Peckham and Southwark is proof that collaboration and creativity can deliver tangible results and opportunities in the local community.”

Confirmation of the extended lifespan of the building will allow the owners of the Peckhamplex cinema to look at options for improving their facilities whilst continuing to deliver low-cost cinema tickets for local residents.

The cinema attracts 10,000 customers a week, largely from the local catchment area but more recently from across London.

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Enterprise Advisers are a panLondon network of high-calibre business volunteers working in senior roles and who work with careers leads in schools to develop careers education Through involvement as an Enterprise Adviser they have the opportunity to: support the delivery of a high profile business network, championed by the Cabinet Office, senior government figures and the London Enterprise Action Patrnership (LEAP).

The Enterprise Adviser Network is looking for self-motivated, passionate individuals who are committed to supporting young Londoners. To find out more, please contact EnterpriseAdvisers@london.gov.uk.

Creative car park granted secure future Southwark Council has been working with Bold Tendencies, the Peckhamplex Cinema and the team behind the Peckham Levels to significantly extend their leases.

The site had been highlighted in the council’s New Southwark Plan, a blueprint for potential development in the borough, as an area to be re-developed for mixed use. However, the most recent draft of the Plan had the site removed.

through aspirational careers education and improved collaboration between business and students.

The London Enterprise Adviser Network is a fully-funded programme that helps to prepare young people for the world of work by connecting businesses to local schools and it has just introduced a number of Southwark schools to the network and is seeking local business people to support the work.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

New era dawns for association

The Southwark Civic Association has undergone a significant change.

The EGM of the association held on 30 September agreed that a secret postal ballot should be held of all voting members on the motion proposed by the Honorary Secretary and seconded by the Assistant Honorary Secretary, that ‘the Southwark Civic Association be wound up in accordance with the Paragraph 6 of the SCA Constitution and the Assets of the Association transferred to a new Civic Society after payment of any Debts’ The returned ballot papers were opened by Councillor Johnson Situ, Cabinet Member for Communities in the London Borough of Southwark, in the presence of Ken Hayes and Jacqui Brazil.

The results were: 21 for the motion, 4 against, 1 spoiled ballot paper. The motion was, therefore, carried.

Honorary Secretary Ken Hayes said. “We can now move the SCA into a new era as the Southwark Civic Society, encouraging Civic pride, Civic engagement, Community spirit, Community engagement and volunteering in the London Borough of Southwark.

“The inaugural General Meeting of the Southwark Civic Society will be held in the New Year when a draft constitution has been drawn up.

“Corporate businesses in Southwark will be invited to participate in the civic life the London Borough of Southwark through sponsorship and engagement.”

News

Southwark Remembers its war dead On Monday 6th November a Remembrance Service was held at the Southwark Council offices in Tooley Street, at the Council’s staff and members War Memorial in the Foyer.

This was to mark the 100th anniversary of end of the third Battle of Ypres, commonly called the Battle of Passchendaele, the bloodiest battle of WWI. The service was led by the Dean of Southwark Cathedral the Rev. Andrew Nunn, who recalled that over half a million soldiers died from both the Allied and German forces, some of whom died falling injured and drowning in the muddy water filled trenches, many of whom were from the first Metropolitan Borough of Southwark.

The battle lasted 100 days and when the allied Commander, General Haig declared victory only 300 yards of ground had been won.

Wreaths were laid by the Mayor, Cllr. Smith and the Hon. Secretary of the Southwark Civic Association, Ken Hayes.

Three more Remembrance Services were held in Southwark at West Lane

Civilian War Memorial in Bermondsey on Armistice Day, 11th November, at the St. Saviours Parish War Memorial in Borough High Street on Remembrance Sunday 12th November and at the Russian War Memorial at the Imperial War Museum near the Elephant and Castle on Remembrance Sunday.

Wreaths were laid at these

by the Mayor of Southwark, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Southwark, the leader and the Chief Executive of the Council, Political Parties, Service organisations, representatives of the Metropolitan Police, the London Fire Brigade and Civil organisations, including the Southwark Chamber of Commerce.

“Lest we forget”

Report on Business Meeting of the Chamber held on 25th October 2017

The Chamber’s October Business meeting was held the Regus Business Centre 3, London Bridge Street, (the mini Shard).

The council finished its contract with Capita over the summer and the new arrangement is now in place.

We were up dated on the Benefits of the Apprentice Scheme, by William Harwood, and Mya Love. (Small employer advisor), Department Work and Pensions and Sahan De Abrew and Christie Hoyle of Step Ahead, the Recruitment, Training and Apprenticeship Training Agency.

Raja Miah of the SEEDS programme, Southwark Employment, Enterprise and Development Scheme. This offers SME’s in Southwark a subsidy of 35 – 50% of their wages if they employ a young Southwark resident, (16 – 25) for six or twelve months either as a regular employee or as an apprentice, at the London Living Wage.

That is 35% if they employ a young Southwark resident and 50% if the young person has multiple barriers to work or eligible for Southwark Council’s Apprenticeship Standard.

The programme aims to put 50 young Southwark residents into work.

If your company is an SME and you wish further information, please contact Raja Miah Tel. no: 020 7740 6868 Email: raja@in-spire.org.uk or the Small employer adviser Mya Love Tel. no: 07748 622 761.

Email: mya.love@dwp.gsi.gov.uk Ken Hayes Hon Secretary (Membership)

Blacking factories and Bigamist Landlords A walk in Bermondsey led by Ken Hayes

By Susan Isaacs, Arts and Culture Correspondent

The attractive tudor - fronted pub, facing on to Borough High Street,does not look like a Hole in the Wall.

But the Trinity Public House, as it is now known , was originally known by that name and has a history that might make your eyebrows twitch. It was there that one Tuesday evening in September, historian and Chamber membership secretary Ken Hayes, gathered a willing band of Southwark Chamber members. Ken has done some brilliant research, and during his talk the characters that haunted Borough High St in the past, came vividly to life.

The Landlord of the pub then known as the Hole in the Wall in 1868, was Edwin Brady, an

enterprising man who dramatically increased trade by giving his customers saucy postcards as an incentive to use the pub.

The magistrates were less enthusiastic, and he lost his license after someone complained.

The Crown Public House, further along in the walk , had a rather more disreputable landlord, George Chapman, a pharmacist in Southwark. He poisoned three women who he had married bigamously, as he had an estranged wife in Poland, by adding small amounts of a poison to their food. But he met his just deserts in 1903, was tried at the Old Bailey, and convicted and hanged in Wandsworth Prison.

Those Southwark landlords were a force to be reckoned with. Ken showed us the Queens Head Inn at 105 Borough High St. This pub was owned by John Harvard, who

emigrated to America, after his family died in the bubonic plague.

When John Harvard died, he left half his Estate and his extensive Library to the Massachusetts State University. The world famous Harvard University is named in his honour.

It was not just the landlords who were remarkable. Southwark writers. were too. Charles Dickens lived in Southwark. Ken took us to Marshalsea Debtors Prison, the second location of the prison.

Charles Dickens’s father was imprisoned there for debt. At the age of twelve Charles had to work in a blacking factory, a terrible experience that he never forgot.

He immortalised the prison in Little Dorrit, and despite his bitter experiences, frequently came back to visit Southwark and swig down a beer at the George Inn.

And what tour of Borough High St could be complete without a mention of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Ken showed us the Tabard Inn and Talbot Yard. This was the Inn that Geoffrey Chaucer featured in his Canterbury Tales. Pilgrims set out from on their travels to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas a Beckett from here, and of course from some of the other Inns.

We all finished off back at the parliament bar in the George Inn, cosily nibbling at snacks and discussing the walk. There was a lovely saying placed above the Tudor style fireplace, which summed up our experiences.

Sat by the fire a man is king as much as any monarch on his throne.

Ken had shown us a delightful walk, and we could show those Chaucer pilgrims a thing or two.

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Arts & Culture

Young Marx

at the Bridge Theatre A new play by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman Photography credit Manuel Harlan

Co-founders of the new Bridge theatre, Nick Starr and Nicholas Hytner, and writers Richard Bean and Clive Coleman have taken Marx’s words to heart, for the farcical play shows Marx jumping through windows, and running up chimneys, while fires burn furiously below.

Marx dodges London policemen and launches into delightful comedy duets at the piano with his friend Friedrich Engels to the tune of Beethoven’s 9th.

The scene opens on the smoggy Victorian London of the 1850’s.

A line of black chimneys pokes unevenly into the grey sky above, and the stage swivels round to show the inside of a pawn shop.

By Susan Isaacs – Arts and Culture Correspondent “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”

So said Karl Marx, the world-changing philosopher who developed the theory of communism.

When the pawnbroker suspects shabbily dressed, German accented Marx of stealing his wife’s silver teapot, we see Marx on the run.

He dodges back to the seedy lodgings where his wife is packing her bags to leave him for the umpteenth time.

Writers Bean and Coleman have taken a period in Marx’s life when he was in exile in London with his wife, Prussian aristocrat Jenny von Westphalen, and children, living off handouts from his father-in-law, and the generosity of his friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels.

We see a Marx, who despite his brilliant commentary on world economics, cannot feed his starving family who must sit on the floor when the bailiffs have come.

As Marx says jokingly while scampering round the floor with

his young son, “One day my son, |all my debts will be yours.”

The acting is excellent. Friedrich Engels is played with debonair style

by Oliver Chris, as a man who feels passionately for the terrible suffering of the poor. Marx’s longsuffering wife Jenny is portrayed convincingly by Nancy Carroll.

You can hardly blame her, when tired of the impoverished life they lead, she temporarily runs off with a lover, leaving Marx to father a child with their loyal maid (Laura Elphinstone) nicknamed Nym. Jenny does return later, and tries to puzzle out why Marx and Nym break off conversation every time she enters the room.

The play makes you want to find out more about the legendary figure who changed the world, but sometimes the plot is a little

confusing and one is unsure who the different political activists are, or why the actors sometimes speak with a heavy German accent, and then switch back to ordinary English. Unless you have a detailed knowledge of Marx’s life, it can be difficult to follow.

One of the best moments however must surely be a scene in the reading room of the British library.

A white bearded Charles Darwin sits centre stage and the readers end up swinging punches at each other to the unforgettable line, “just another library brawl.”

Hats off to the cast, directors and writers for making what might have been a dry subject into a wonderful romp through Victorian London, and a great opening for the Bridge theatre.

Woodcuts from Wonderland John Tenniel’s Illustrations for Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

Eames Fine Art is delighted to present a show of John Tenniel’s whimsical and nostalgic original wood engravings for Lewis Carroll’s incomparable stories: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the LookingGlass and What Alice Found There (1871).

In 1981, after being presumed lost for decades, the original wood blocks from the nineteenth century were rediscovered unexpectedly in the books’ publisher’s old bank vault. The prints on display at Eames Fine Art were made from these original wood blocks—now in the British Library’s collection—in 1988.

Tenniel’s clear and detailed style lends itself well to such iconic and fanciful tales.

His experience creating political cartoons and caricatures for Punch magazine is

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implicit in his exaggerated and imaginative style. Carroll himself directly guided Tenniel in the depiction of each character, and Tenniel’s images have endured for a century and a half, becoming the inspiring basis for countless reproductions and adaptations of Carroll’s stories.

10 – 28 January 2018 Show opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday: 11 am – 6 pm Sunday: 12 pm – 5 pm Monday: Closed.

For further information please contact the gallery.

Eames Fine Art

T: +44 (0)20 7407 1025 E: info@eamesfineart.com W: eamesfineart.com

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Image: John Tenniel, So they began dancing round and round Alice…, wood engraving.

About the artist: John Tenniel (1820 – 1914) was born in London and worked during the latter half of thenineteenth century as a cartoonist and illustrator. He is most well-known for his political cartoons in Punch magazine, as well as for his illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

Arts & Culture

The excitement of a new theatrical challenge Co-founder of the Bridge Theatre Nick Starr has taken on the challenge of creating a new theatre experience for audiences.

Susan Isaacs caught up with him.

Can you tell us a little about how you planned to create the new theatre and why?

Nick Hytner and I ran the National Theatre together for 12 years. When it became time to give others the stewardship of the NT, it struck us to ask ourselves whether it would be possible to create a new kind of commercial theatre, one that has modern facilities for both audiences and artists.

The theatre is in Southwark.

How have you worked with the local community so far, and what are your plans for the future?

We hope to work in the future with local businesses to support a long-term scheme for young Southwark residents to get into the theatre-going habit. We already have the Young Bridge scheme, which is free to join for people under 26, and this will be an extension of that, at very low prices.

You plan for the theatre to be a flexible space. Can you give us any clues as to the surprises that await us?

The auditorium is remarkably flexible. For our second production, Julius Caesar, starting in January, we’re creating a big ‘promenade’ space, so that several hundred

of the audience can choose to be part of the action in the pit, with the seated audience in the galleries around. And for the third production, Nightfall, we’ll arrange the seating around a stage that comes out into the auditorium.

You have given many slots in your forthcoming programme to new plays, and several of these are biography. Can you give us an idea of any particular genre you are interested in?

Our hope is to do mainly new plays, with the occasional musical and the occasional revival (like Julius Caesar).

We’re really most interested in what interests writers.

Sometimes we take them material as the starting-point and sometimes we simply commission on the basis of an idea that they have. If there’s a common thread, it’s our belief that what’s good can be popular, and what’s popular can also be good. For ‘good’ you can read ‘challenging’, ‘engaging’, ‘stimulating’.

Many of the new plays are by women. Is this a deliberate policy?

We keep an eye on the balance of female and male writers under commission, but not in a box-ticking way. Lucy Prebble,

Lucinda Coxon, Sam Holcroft, Nina Raine – they’re some of the most exciting writers working today. We eagerly await their new plays!

What made you decide to choose Young Marx as your opening play?

Nick Hytner would answer that by saying ‘because it was ready!’ A big new play, rather than a classic, felt the right way to open. We respond to what comes in – which is why we’ve already announced a play for next autumn, Martin McDonagh’s ‘A Very Very Very Dark Matter’ with Jim Broadbent. We hope that, over time, audiences will get a sense of the kind of play (or musical) that we’ll do.

How have playwrights and actors responded to working in the new space?

They’ve responded to the new space very positively indeed.

The design of the auditorium means that all the audience are in the actors’ eye line, and nobody is very far from the stage. So the visual and aural connection – it has great acoustics – is very strong.

Writers have told us that they’re excited to write for the space, that its possibilities are stimulating – and that’s what we hoped would happen.

What has been the most difficult problem to overcome?

We had to install the auditorium into an already-built space with all its pieces coming through a large garage door when it was slung onto a monorail bolted to the roof, then lowered 25 feet down onto the floor where it was assembled by the telehandler. Each piece was precision-made and had to fit exactly between the floor and ceiling to make an acoustic seal.

What has been the funniest thing that has happened?

Sitting on a prototype seat on a mock-up of one of the balconies in a field in Norfolk looking at a builder on a fork-lift pretending to play Hamlet, so that we could judge what the connection between the audience and the stage would feel like.

How does working here compare with other theatres?

Everything is brand-new, which is unusual. I’m in awe of what the production and technical teams have achieved in such a short time.

Sitting in the foyer smelling the baked goods, drinking a cappuccino and looking across the river to the Tower of London – that’s a blast.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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Education

New Higher Education centre at your local college London Southwark – University Centre (LS-UC), which is located at Lewisham Southwark College’s state-of-the-art Southwark campus – aims to work with local businesses to nurture future London talent.

LS-UC opens its doors officially in September 2018 and offers a broad range of Higher Education (HE) qualifications including HNCs (Higher National Certificates), HNDs (Higher National Diplomas), Foundation degrees and full Honours degrees.

The high quality courses have a strong industry focus and cover three key areas: Business, Finance and Computing; Health Science and Technology; and Art and Creative Industries.

The new Centre aims to work closely with local businesses to build relevant work experience and other opportunities into its HE courses. The long-term aim is to provide a stream of welltrained graduates who are prepared for the challenges of working in their chosen field, and can help meet London’s need for new talent across a number of sectors.

LS-UC is situated at LS College’s newly renovated £43m Southwark campus and hosts fantastic facilities including dedicated

study areas, a library, social rooms, specialist facilities such as art studios, and computer rooms equipped with the latest technology. Students will learn from expert tutors with relevant industry experience, in an innovative and dynamic environment.

Providing an alternative to University, LS-UC offers a wide range of advantages including lower tuition fees than most universities, smaller class sizes, and more vocational course content than conventional

HE programmes. The Centre also gives people living in south London the option of studying at HE level within their local area.

LS-UC has been launched following LS College’s recent merger with NCG, the UK’s largest College group and the only group in the UK to have Taught Degree Awarding Powers. As a result of this merger, LS-UC is able to offer an expanded range of HE courses which draw on NCG’s long experience and teaching excellence in the HE field.

Find out more at LS-UC.co.uk

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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International Focus

Discover Vietnam’s thriving food and beverage market

By Mia Ensenyat

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Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

International Focus

Vietnam is one of the most dynamic economies in Asia, with a large market for capital goods and a growing domestic market for consumer goods. With a vast market of over 95 million people and its fast GDP growth of 6.67 per cent in 2015, exceeding world’s average, Vietnam remains an enticing destination for UK exporters.

According to a report by PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) in 2008, Vietnam holds the potential to grow up to 10% per annum, becoming the fastest-growing emerging economy by 2025, where the scale of its economy is estimated to reach 70 per cent of the size of the UK economy by 2050. The increasing prosperity of the Vietnamese economy not only show the steady progress made in recent years but also presents the prospect of an exciting future.

Location

Vietnam is situated in an extremely strategic position for international trade. Its proximity to the Asia-Pacific area means that it acts as a gateway to the in-land economies of Cambodia and Laos, whilst it also opens out to the strong economies by the South China Sea such as Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

As a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), Vietnam benefits from international cooperation and has free trade agreements with India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The lower tariffs due to market

liberalisation under ASEAN and other specific bilateral agreements combine with the young population with an average age of 27 to offer endless opportunities.

Increasing numbers of UK companies are following well-established brands like Standard Chartered, HSBC, Karen Millen and Oasis into the market. Rolls Royce, Mini and Marks and Spencer established a presence in 2014.

Demand

The Vietnamese food and beverage sector currently accounts for 37 per cent of its GDP and is one of the rising stars in the market. The strong economic growth and the development of a financially well-off consumer group has directed a change in consumption habits and led to the emergence of retail systems.

According to the Association of Vietnam Retailers, there are currently 750 supermarkets, 130 shopping centres and 9,000 traditional markets in the country. In addition, the annual production of beer, wine and spirits, and non-alcoholic drinks will rise to 4.25 billion litres, 360 million litres, and 9.2 billion litres in 2020.

Vietnamese consumers are shifting towards consumption of beverages with higher value, creating gaps to exploit the high-end beverage segments.

Though both local and foreign players have attempted to respond to this shift, overseas companies currently enjoy the edge as Vietnamese consumers favour international brands.

As Vietnam ranks fourth most popular destination in Asia with over 10,013,000 visitors in 2016, the increasing tourism contributes towards the demand for western-style products such as beef, cheese, seafood, wine and seasonings.

Trade Mission

The Enterprise Europe Network desk at LCCI in collaboration with the EU-Vietnam Business Network (EVBN), has organised a company trade mission to Vietnam scheduled to take place in January 2018.

The company trade mission to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will encourage UK companies wishing to enter the Vietnamese market to interact with local companies, as well as existing European companies operating in the market. The introduction and referral to EVBN will help participants attain a more personalised experience, following their individual business plans.

For more information about the mission please contact vvlotides@londonchamber.co.uk 020 7203 1838

“Vietnamese consumers are shifting towards consumption of beverages with higher value, creating gaps to exploit the highend beverage segments. Though both local and foreign players have attempted to respond to this shift, overseas companies currently enjoy the edge as Vietnamese consumers favour international brands.�

This article first appeared in London Business Matters in October 2017 www.londonbusinessmatters.co.uk

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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LagenHagen

Long Weekend in Langenhagen

By Susan Isaacs Arts and Culture Correspondent

Birgit Naeschke and Antje Bismark We were greeted by Birgit and Andreas Naeschke who were waiting to whirl us off to the pub for the delicious local Weizenbier, (wheat beer) a German speciality.

Birgit and Andreas organised a marvellous itinerary for us and we were royally entertained.

Antje Bismark, the editor from the local newspaper, came to meet us, and we achieved star billing in their paper.

We had a fascinating tour around a green printing press which uses light sensors, solvent free paints, and recycled paper as just some of the ways to reduce the energy it uses. The modern office was stylish, and notably free of the smell of paint.

They print on anything from t-shirts and textiles to BMWs and

Mercedes, and as you can see from the images the designers had quite a sense of humour.

The printers train as apprentices, and apprenticeships are very common in Germany. We had a very interesting discussion about the way apprenticeships are evolving in both Langenhagen and Southwark

We wandered around the Sprengel art museum in the centre of Hannover, where the modern plain building contrasted with the superb range of portraits and sculptures within. It made a startling contrast with the picturesque half timbered building in the Old town where we bought souvenirs and scented soaps to take home to London Jens Monsen, the managing director of the development corporation, took us to the Langenhagen Town Hall, and explained how they had built a

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An intrepid group of delegates from Southwark Chamber of Commerce, Richard Kalmar, Peter Mantell, Ken Hayes, Abdul Mohamed, Caroline Mohamed, and yours truly, Susan Isaacs spent a long weekend in Langenhagen to meet our German twin delegates.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

whole new housing development in Langenhagen to house the families and companies, before taking us to have a look at the development ourselves.

The absolute highlight of the evening was the magnificent Nord Ball held in the airport

Maritime Hotel, where illuminated lifts in the shape of boats lit up the entry hall. Over four hundred and fifty guests bopped and boogied to the strains of the famous German band (although almost all their songs were English ones) Blue Cafe.

Stars from German radio and stage sang and danced, and after a magnificent buffet, we all slipped off to the bar to swig down yet more wine and coffee as the night progressed.

Long may the twinning continue, and we look forward to seeing our German colleagues at many future events.

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Spotlight on...

Regeneration plans point to an exciting future Few areas of London are undergoing as dramatic a regeneration as the Elephant and Castle, where billions of pounds of investment is transforming the area.

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Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Spotlight on...

Southwark Council is working with a range of private and public sector organisations to lead a £3bn regeneration programme which aims to develop a new exciting destination for London over the next 15 years.

and places to socialise, Elephant and Castle is once again becoming a destination for visitors, as well as a great neighbourhood in which to live, work and learn.

In addition, it will see the creation of up to 450,000 square feet of retail space and an integrated public transport hub as well as improving access to more local jobs and training opportunities and offering new cultural and leisure facilities.

• The rebuilt shopping centre will offer 450,000 square feet of new retail space for shops and restaurants

The regeneration includes the creation of a new pedestrianised town centre, a new-look market square and 5,000 new or replacement homes.

Work will improve the appearance of the area as well, giving local people treelined streets, high quality open spaces and a largely traffic-free environment.

The partners aim to build on Elephant and Castle’s reputation as a vibrant place which with two local universities, a flourishing arts scene and a strong Latin American influence, has long been known for its energetic spirit.

That energy can be traced back to the area’s origins, which lie in its location at the intersection of several major routes into the historic core of London.

The work includes: • More than 5,000 new homes will be built; at least 1,650 of all new homes will be affordable. Completed new developments include Clarson House, Harper Road, Brandon Street, Royal Road and Library Street

• There will be six new public squares and two new pocket parks built as part of the Heygate development site as well as the largest new park in central London for 70 years.

Over 45 per cent of the redeveloped Heygate site will be accessible to the public, opening up an area which has been isolated from the rest of the neighbourhood for 40 years

• More than 5,000 construction jobs and 1,000 in completed development will be created on Heygate alone • More than £240m will be invested in education, including training and apprenticeship opportunities, and culture with £20m spent on the new leisure centre with swimming pools

To this day, it remains one of the city’s most important transport hubs, making it one of the most accessible places in London with two underground stations, a mainline rail station, 28 bus routes, excellent road connections and one of London’s first Cycle Superhighways, linking the Elephant with King’s Cross.

• More than £140m will be invested in transport improvements, including the northern roundabout and a major upgrade to the Northern Line ticket hall. Work to the southern roundabout has already been completed, with subways filled in, making the junction safer for pedestrians and cyclists

With plans for new theatres, cinemas, shops, restaurants

There are 18 projects either under way or planned that form the core of the regeneration programme and the two main ones are Elephant Park on the site of the former Heygate estate and the new town centre.

Indeed, the area was once famed as the ‘Piccadilly of the South’, a central hub of entertainment which regularly drew in thousands of Londoners and the regeneration programme seeks to make the most of its central location.

• A number of projects will work towards improving public health

West Grove

Elephant Park is a major mixed-use development that will create almost 2,700 new homes, including the recently completed Trafalgar Place and the largest new park in central London for 70 years.

The first part of the park is already open and work is progessing on the next phases of the development, which will also provide 50 new shops, restaurants and cafes.

The developer, Lendlease is committed to reinvigorating the area with a number of new green spaces – retaining more than 100 mature trees and planting hundreds of new ones – and wants to ensure the development is one of the most environmentallysustainable urban regeneration projects in the world.

Lendlease is a participant in the Climate Positive Development Programme, which means Elephant Park will be ‘climate positive’ when it completes in 2025. The site will include a combined heat and power plant, the Energy Hub, to enable the delivery of net zero-carbon heating and hot water to all the new homes.

The town centre re-development incorporates the shopping centre, a new campus for London College of Communication and an adjacent site of 1.25 acres, fronting Elephant Road.

The proposals will make the area more open and accessible, providing improved pedestrian routes through the area and to Elephant Park.

Included in the plans are more than 1,000 new homes for the rental market, alongside 272 student studios, new restaurants and leisure space, a 500 capacity live music venue and a new cutting-edge campus for London College of Communication, part of University of the Arts London.

Taken together, the projects make up an exciting blueprint for an area that has retained its vibrancy down the years and which can look forward to the future with confidence.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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Spotlight on...

The jewel in the crown

Since construction began in 2013, Lendlease has already completed over 900 homes.

The first phase, Trafalgar Place, was chosen as the ‘Best New Place to Live’ in the capital as part of the Mayor of London’s London Planning Awards. While the latest phase, South Gardens, was recently awarded the ‘Supreme Winner’ Prize at }the 2017 Brick Awards, demonstrating the quality of housing being delivered at the Elephant.

As well as new homes, Elephant Park will also deliver over 11 acres of new and improved public spaces. The jewel in the crown of these is the new park at the centre of the development, the first phase of which opened to the public this summer. Lendlease have been running a number of events since it opened, from fireworks nights to fitness classes.

West Grove

Lendlease is working in partnership with Southwark Council to deliver its £2.3bn Elephant Park regeneration project, which by 2025 will deliver over 3,000 new homes, 50 shops, restaurants and cafes, and a brand new public park in the heart of Elephant & Castle.

Looking ahead to 2018, the next phase of Elephant Park, known as West Grove, will start to complete.

This phase will provide another 593 homes, as well as over 4,000 sqm of retail space. This retail space will include new shops on the Walworth Road, as well as a new shopping street – known as Sayer Street – that will lead into the park. Marketing to attract new tenants for this retail will begin early in the New Year.

Also in 2018, Elephant Park’s Energy Hub will open. The Energy Hub will provide net-zero carbon heat and hot water for all the new homes in Elephant Park, and is critical to Lendlease’s ambition to make Elephant Park the first Climate Positive development in the UK, as part of the C40 Cities Climate Positive Development Program.

Elephant Park Energy Hub

“As well as new homes, Elephant Park will also deliver over 11 acres of new and improved public spaces.”

Trafalgar Place

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Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Quebec Way, Canada Water A mixed-use scheme for 368 new homes, nursery, gym and mini market nearing completion for London and Quadrant. National Housing Awards described the scheme as ‘An Outstanding new development’ Alan Camp Architects DUH DQ DZDUG ZLQQLQJ SUDFWLFH WKDW VSHFLDOLVH LQ UHVLGHQWLDO OHG PL[HG XVH VFKHPHV PDVWHU SODQQLQJ DQG EHVSRNH GHVLJQ VROXWLRQV :RUNLQJ ZLWK RXU FOLHQWV DQG WKH ORFDO FRPPXQLWLHV ZH FUHDWH DQ HQYLURQPHQW WKDW HQKDQFHV DQG UHVSRQGV WR WKHLU QHHGV :H KDYH DQ H[FHSWLRQDO UHFRUG RI VHFXULQJ SODQQLQJ SHUPLVVLRQV RQ FRQVWUDLQHG VLWHV DQG WKHQ ZRUNLQJ ZLWK WKH FRQWUDFWRUV WR FRQVWUXFW D KLJK TXDOLW\ GHYHORSPHQW

88 Union Street, London, SE1 0NW www.alancamp.com / 020 7593 1000

Remembering when ...

Remembering when the Hop trade was a significant part of Southwark commerce

By Ken Hayes Hon.Secretary

Until 1750, all traffic from Kent, Surrey and Sussex had to come through Southwark. The owners of the inns were rich and influential, often serving as members of parliament for the parliamentary Borough of Southwark, which elected two MPs. The most famous of these was Harry Bailey, Landlord of the Tabard Inn, who led the pilgrims to Canterbury in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The mediaeval route to Canterbury went from Borough High St via Kent St, renamed Tabard St in 1877, with the creation of Gt. Dover Street, (a Georgian by-pass), to relieve traffic congestion.

The two big breweries were confusingly both called the Anchor Brewery. One was owned

by John Courage from1787, just downstream of where Tower Bridge is today, (built in 1894). The second Brewery was in Park St, which dated from the 1600’s. Henry Thrale took that over in the middle 1700’s.

When Thrale died in 1871, his friend Dr Samuel Johnson famously said, ‘That what was for sale was not a collection boilers and vats, but the potential of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.’

The year before during the Gordon Riots, Thrale’s manager John Perkins had plied the rioters with free beer while sending for the troops, which saved the day for the brewery.

The brewery was bought by the Barclays who made Perkins a partner, and renamed it Barclay Perkins & Co Ltd. They merged with Courage in 1955.

By 1855 the hop trade in Southwark was at its height and dealing with 800,00 Cwt’s of hops,

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Southwark has for many centuries been associated with Breweries, Hops and Coaching Inns. The inns derived their existence from the fact that Borough High Street and London Bridge were the only land routes to the City of London from the south.

(5,263 metric tons), per year. The areas behind both sides of Borough High St. were proliferated by hop warehouses where the hop pockets were stored by the Hop Factors until they were sold to the Brewers.

The aroma of hops must have been strong around the Borough, which may have helped to dull the strong smell of urea coming from the Leather Tanneries nearby.

The 1837 engraving printed here shows Borough High Street looking north past St. George the Martyr Church towards London Bridge, shows the numerous wagons piled high with hop pockets emerging from Gt. Dover St. on the right of the picture, the main route from the Kent hop fields.

With the arrival of the railways, poor families travelled to Kent each year in the early autumn to go ‘opping’. They lived in tin huts while there and it became their annual working holiday especially for the children. This provided much needed extra income for them. Factory owners in S.E. London would be forced to shut down during this time as they had not enough workers to run their factories. When the hops had been picked off the bines they were taken to Oast-Houses for drying. They were then packed into long sacks, measuring 2ft by 6ft, called pockets.

These were then taken to Southwark where they were stored in the Hop warehouses by middle men, the Hop Factors, who acted on behalf of the growers, who paid a commission for the service.

The pockets were then sampled, by cutting a piece of the hops, about 1lb in weight. The cutting of the sample was done with a long knife, plus a tool called ‘a pair of clams’ and a trimming gauge.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Samples from each grower were wrapped in thick brown paper and secured with brass chair nails.

They were then strung together with waxed hemp. The hop factors had showrooms where the samples were inspected by the buyers, who were Hop Merchants, another set of middlemen who acted for the Brewers. The Factors and Merchants can be compared to Brokers and Jobbers as in the Stock Exchange. They were formed into partnerships as in the practice with stockbrokers, surveyors and solicitors.

The hop warehouses were substantial buildings and could hold up to 10,000 pockets of hops.

Wigan’s and Co were one of the biggest hop factors, who had their own Cricket team and their advertisement for staff in 1903 included the line ‘only cricketers need apply’. The Hop Trade in Southwark survived until 1973 when the UK joined the European Economic Community which brought free trade that ended the restriction on imported hops, mainly from Germany.

This was the final straw for the hop merchants, who packed up in Southwark and moved to Paddock Wood.

Prices of hops in the mid. 20th Century had been largely set by the Hops Marketing Board which was set up in 1932 by the Agricultural Marketing Act 1931.

After World War Two, the Board effectively swallowed up the hop factors. Warehouses were built in Paddock Wood in Kent to replace the warehouses destroyed in the Blitz during the war, as 25 of the 35 hop warehouses had been destroyed completely.

The Hop Exchange was speculatively built on Southwark St. in 1867, with the intention of it being a trading floor for the hop trade and offices for the hop factors, which never happened.

It is the best surviving example of a Victorian commercial building in Southwark and is Grade II listed.

Today we have micro-breweries and no hop trade.

Boost for businesses as major investment proposed for Bermondsey Grosvenor’s £500 million investment plan, for the former Peek Frean Biscuit Factory and Bermondsey Campus site, incorporates up to 1,343 new purpose built homes for rent, alongside a new 600-place secondary school, over 10,000m2 of new office space and 10,000m2 of retail, culture, leisure, community and food and drink uses.

The scale of investment will create significant benefits including many that will help businesses by revitalising the neighbourhood, encouraging enterprise and re-establishing Bermondsey as a thriving local economy.

Better connectivity to increase footfall and spending Subject to all necessary consents, two new routes under the railway are proposed to better connect the neighbourhood with the local high street, known locally as The Blue. Grosvenor estimates the improved connections and additional footfall in the neighbourhood would result in approximately £3m more spend in The Blue, per year.

Provision for SME's and start-ups A variety of commercial unit sizes are proposed to suit a range of occupiers and affordability criteria. Grosvenor aims to support and grow Bermondsey as a place of enterprise and are proposing a range of workspaces to meet different needs, which include including traditional offices and smaller more flexible spaces for co-working or hot-desking for start-up businesses.

Investment in enterprise and local job opportunities Grosvenor has so far invested over £330,000 in community projects and training schemes, which over 500 local people have benefitted from. As well as continuing to invest in local business initiatives, there will be further economic opportunities through the c. 2,500 new jobs that are expected to be generated.

Working closely with local businesses Grosvenor has been working closely with The Blue Bermondsey BID to ensure that the commercial and retail uses complement The Blue. The wider range of facilities and services will help meet the needs of the community, create active streets and support The Blue into becoming a thriving and busy local high street again.

To find out more about Grosvenor's work in Bermondsey, please visit: www.belonginbermondsey.com

News

London’s first container apart-hotel in Virtual Reality A grubby shipping container is transformed into a swanky hotel room before your eyes.

You can walk through the space touching the walls and tables, dimming lights, you can try the shower for size. The hotel TV is tuned to the BBC news. It feels uncannily like you’ve been transported directly into in the luxury hotel room itself.

The company behind this incredible virtual experience is A-VR, is the virtual reality arm of established architectural visualisers, AVR

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London, based in Shad Thames.

Their room-scale VR visualisation of Stow Away container hotel, designed by Doone Silver Kerr architects has been capturing attention at The Artworks Elephant where it has been installed in one of the container units. The real hotel, a fully sustainable and eco-friendly project from developers Stow Projects and Ciel Capital, is made from 26 re-purposed shipping containers and due to open on Lower Marsh in Waterloo in Spring 2018.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

This is just one of several simulations that A-VR are creating in virtual space before being built in physical space. Ewan Couper, the A-VR artist involved in the creation of Stow Away Hotel, said, “mapping the virtual bedroom to the physical space was tricky but once mastered really enhances the verisimilitude of the whole experience. When faced with a wall in VR there is one in reality that you can reach out and touch.”

A-VR’s work is not limited to visualising unbuilt architecture however, they are currently working with Southwark’s architecturallyfocused Anise Gallery to create a much larger ‘fantasy’ gallery and on a historical reconstruction for Westminster Abbey.

Anise Gallery’s digital artist-inresidence, Charles Harrop-Griffiths, is tapping into A-VR’s film VFX expertise in his latest piece Loci, which visualises attributes of our data driven lives as the ruins and relics we leave behind. This filmlike VR installation will be exhibited at the Anise Gallery in February.

The Stow Away Hotel experience is available to view in the A-VR studio by appointment, for details email: hello@a-vr.co.uk. a-vr.co.uk avrlondon.com anisegallery.co.uk

Salads, Swimsuits, and an Artist called Anita Susan Isaacs gets Up Close with Anita Klein

A block of flats stands severely in a road at the back of Bermondsey Street.

The white is so clinically white that you might expect to find a medical surgery inside.

Instead, as the door opens you are greeted by the delicious sounds of jazz, and a blaze of coloured paintings, stacked canvasses, and black and white prints.

The powerful smell of paint hits your nostrils.

It is the studio of Bermondsey artist Anita Klein, who has paintings and prints in major art galleries and collections all over the world.

The range of colours and the scenes that she covers, are delightful vignettes from everyday life. There goes Anita swimming in a red and white spotted swimsuit. Here she is with her daughter, both in blue dresses, making a green and yellow salad. Here she is peeling an orange, wearing a cardigan in a shade of orange captivatingly different to the fruit. A scene in a black and white bathroom, with herself and her husband Nige in the bath, picks out lovingly every hair on his back and legs, while the tiles and bath remain stark and plain.

Anita wants to record happy ordinary daily moments, for the very reason that her life was

often painful. When her parents divorced she came to London from Australia, and struggled at first to fit in. Her parents were an intriguing combination, her father a professor of physics, and her mother a psychotherapist, both unwilling for her to study art.

“I went for an interview at University College. I went through the wrong door and found myself in the Slade School and saw all these people painting.”

Her path to success was not straightforward.

“For the first three years you are just pleasing the tutors but when you have finished you are making paintings and basically just putting them under the bed.” But Anita meant business.

“I quite unexpectedly sold all the pictures in my final show... and I had to fill a gallery so that was a great impetus to keep going.

I didnt have a studio so I painted and made prints on the living room floor.

I had a gallery to fill and I was not going to let that slip through my fingers.”

And talking to Anita it is quite obvious that the reason she is still so successful, thirty years on, is not down to luck. She works extremely hard and has a keen business brain.

In her studio stands a magnificent ancient printing machine, bought for a song, that has helped her

Up Close

earn her living. It cost more to move it, than to buy it.

“It is the prints that really earn you a living. I do sell all my paintings eventually but you can’t really earn a living unless you sell paintings worth tens of thousands of pounds.

It takes too long. I can do a painting in a week, or an edition of prints in a week. In an edition now I can do say 25 or 50 prints and that enables people to buy things for much less.”

Her main dealers Eames Fine Art hold a special exhibition for her in Tanner Street and constantly display her work in their gallery in Bermondsey Street.

As I leave her studio I glimpse scenes of people bending down to put on a shoe, stir a salad, or cuddle a child.

These are the enchanting everyday themes that make people want to hang her work on their walls. Go see for yourself.

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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Women in Business

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

Changing lives for the better

Joy Grimshaw CEO of The Bridge

“Everything we do is about helping women to make the right choices in life, which can, in turn, improve health and wellbeing.”

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Joy Grimshaw has one of those jobs where she can see lives changing for the better before her eyes.

She is CEO of The Bridge, the working name of the YWCA Central Club and a charity that aims to make a difference to the lives of women in Southwark by improving wellbeing and combatting the effects of often preventable health conditions.

Joy came to the job as the latest stage of a career that included running a languages school and working in other areas of education and business.

Originally, The Bridge was in Central London but moved to Southwark Bridge Road because the borough has problems with wellbeing and health that the centre felt it could help address.

The work is in keeping with guiding principles that go back ninety years.

The Bridge’s history can be traced to the 1920s when a group of radical women set out to form an organisation

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

to promote the intellectual, physical, spiritual, moral and social interests and needs of its members.

Today, much of what the team does in Southwark is still driven by the founding principles of the visionary women who created the charity.

Joy said: “We moved to Southwark because the borough has needs that we can meet. A big part of our work is addressing problems before they occur by helping women to make the right choices.

“For instance, by helping women make wise dietary and lifestyle choices we can reduce the risk of illnesses such as Type 2 Diabetes and heart conditions.

“Everything we do is about helping women to make the right choices in life, which can, in turn, improve health and wellbeing.”

Under the charity’s Southwark Weight and Activity Programme (SWAP), activities range from gym and zumba sessions to

nutritional advice and wellbeing classes.

Joy said: “We are not a weight loss programme but we do get people sending us pictures and saying ‘by the way, me and mum always bought our jacket in a size 20-22 for years. We went Asda today and saw a lovely raincoat, but it was only in a size 12. I said let#s just see how it is on you as you’ve lost a lot. Owww, my goodness it fit. I'm so proud of mum. She said she fit size 12 in the 80s.’ “ Also running is RISE, the newest programme to be set up by The Bridge. The wellbeing project is made up of a number of sessions that have been running every Friday since September, including mindfulness, physical activity and art.

Joy said: “We can see our work making a real difference to women’s lives. Friendships have developed, their sense of wellbeing has improved and we are seeing better health.

It is very satisfying.”

Women in Business

Relaunch and centenary make for a significant year

Francesca Wiggins Head of Clinical Services at UCO

These are exciting times for the Southwark-based University College of Osteopathy, which is targeting growth after undergoing a relaunch during its centenary year.

Formerly the British School of Osteopathy, it was relaunched as the University College of Osteopathy in September 2017,

to take account of its upgraded qualifications capacity.

The change of name, which was granted by the Privy Council, followed the awarding of Taught Degree Awarding Powers in 2015, making the UCO the only osteopathic educational institution in Europe with both University College title and the power to award its own degrees.

One of the key people involved in the development of the establishment is Francesca Wiggins, Head of Clinical Services at UCO, who helps oversee its high-quality teaching and clinical opportunities that attract students from around the world and produce graduates with the skills, knowledge and expertise to become practitioners.

Francesa was originally a student at the establishment then, after graduating, she went into private practice before returning to work there in 2007.

Part of her job is to oversee the UCO’s teaching clinic, which provides high-quality, affordable osteopathic healthcare to the local community and beyond.

The largest of its kind in Europe, it delivers 35,000 appointments each year through its general clinic and award winning specialist and community clinics, with the majority of treatment heavily subsidised or delivered free of charge.

The clinic also gives students ideal work experience.

Francesca said: “We have gone through a lot of change in recent months and have been growing as an organisation after achieving Taught Degree status.

“We get a lot of students aged 18-21 who are just starting out in their healthcare careers but also a lot who are older and who have either already worked in healthcare or are seeking a career-change.

Often, they come from very different professions.

“Our job is to provide our students with an all-round experience of the profession which includes theory and practice, either on our fouryear full-time courses or the five-year part-time ones.

“The clinic gives them the opportunity to work with patients so that when they leave us at the end of their courses, they have a good idea of what it will be like to work in osteopathy.

“Having undergone the relaunch, we are looking ahead with confidence and constantly identifying ways in which we can improve the experience that we offer.”

To find out more about the UCO, including undergraduate, postgraduate and CPD programmes, visit www.uco.ac.uk.

To find out more about the UCO Clinic or to make an appointment visit www.clinic.uco.ac.uk

“The largest of its kind in Europe, it delivers 35,000 appointments each year through its general clinic and award winning specialist and community clinics, with the majority of treatment heavily subsidised or delivered free of charge.”

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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Hospitality

Flying Camels and Endless Hors d'oeuvres

By Susan Isaacs Arts and Culture Correspondent

Bala Baya – iconic Israeli restaurant in the railway arches off Union Street.

A comic image of an animal with a bell round its neck, and wings on its back, rears upwards into the air, decorating the menu.

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No. It is a flying camel, symbol of the wonderful new Israeli restaurant Bala Baya, that has opened under the railway arches, in a little enclave just off Union St in Southwark.

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The adventurous menu is the brain child of Tel Aviv chef Eran Tibi, protegé of star chef Ottolenghi, and the name of the restaurant Bala Baya, which means honouring women is a tribute to the owner’s mother.

He is creating a kaleidoscope of colours and tastes from Israel and bringing them to Southwark.

The restaurant design cleverly integrates the curved brick roof of the railway arch into the ceiling. The massive silver

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

ventilation tube which leads to the kitchen has become a decorative feature, and upstairs you can see the reflection in the window of trains that pass by.

The names on the menu are equally imaginative. Could you resist a dessert of mascarpone and banana, lovingly named The Filthy? Even the loos are stylishly designed to reflect upto-the-minute gender fluid attitudes. The round red pictograms on the doors could be either men or women.

We roll up for the renowned Sunday brunch, (available on Saturday and Sunday) that has made the restaurant so popular.

The customers are a mixture of savvy tourists, and local enthusiasts. A large pushchair stands confidently in the middle of the restaurant, proclaiming by its presence that young families are welcome too.

The furniture feels more café than restaurant. The tables are square and functional, as are the chairs. An artistic light fitting extends wire tentacles from the roof, and clusters of green plants raise their leaves around the room. The glass plates have elaborate leaves and flowers engraved into the glass, and the beakers brim with cordials, coloured like gem stones.

But what of the food?

The weekend brunch is a delight. Let this list roll off your tongue. There are miniature portions of hummus, chickpea,

yogurt, chive & za'atar oil, grilled Turkish chillies, lemon heritage tomato & coriander, pitta crouton aubergine & sweet potato, walnuts date & cardamom butter, pickles, olives & feta, grilled beets, mint & pistachio grapes, anchovies & tarragon puff, chopped liver & crispy onions, kipper, paprika & lemon. Oh and please do not forget to mention the harissa butternut. And these are just the starters.

My personal favourite though was the wonderful Gazoz, a special soft fruit cordial which is distinctively Israeli. I went for watermelon and parsley, but my dining partner’s grapefruit and thyme was equally delicious.

We made our way through a whole jug.

Let me leave you with one piece of advice. Get there quick before all supplies are exhausted.

Hospitality

Bare Feet and Knife Throwing An evening at Italian Restaurant Macellaio RC in Union St

By Susan Isaacs Arts and Culture Correspondent

The waitress smiles sweetly and then expertly stabs a steak knife into the table.

It quivers in the evening light like a dart hitting the bullseye.

Our evening at Macellaio RC, the new Italian steak restaurant in Southwark, has begun.

The owner is Roberto Costa, an unassuming man who greets us warmly, dressed in jeans and a well cut Italian jacket. He has already successfully established two other similar restaurants in Clerkenwell and South Kensington.

At one end of the restaurant is a striking image of a naked chested man with a face mask and a headscarf, extending out

his arms ferociously. In front of the image a real life butcher prepares steaks, carpaccio and cured meats behind a white marble block. The scene is framed by red stage curtains, and guests can wander up and watch.

We look upwards and can see the light coming in. The brick walls and tall arches lead upstairs to a bakery. Sacks of flour from Italy are draped on the floor, and wooden moulds for making shoes, are dotted decoratively around the restaurant. There is a sign saying La Qualità è Scalza, which means Quality is Bare Foot. The idea is that quality lies in things that you make yourself.

If you make your own shoes, you are likely to make your own food. We watch the baker rolling out the dough to make focaccia, the very focaccia that we will eat, spreading a thin layer of cheese upon it, before placing it in the oven.

The meal begins with a sweet dessert wine from Valpolicella, called Recioto, and progresses on to a red wine from Puglia, called Primitivo. Another lovely wine we sample is called Franciacorta. The waiter kindly tipped us off to a special wineshop in Shoreditch where we can find it.

I tried the beef tongue with parsley sauce and the rump steak. The meat was finely matured and served attractively and the colours blended gently with the furnishings. The leather seats were the same colour as the light brown shoe lasts, and the cutlery was placed in rectangular wooden cases that looked like cigar boxes.

But, ironically for a restaurant that styles itself a Macellaio, the Italian word for butcher, I found the dairy products, not the meat, the most delicious.

The focaccia that we had watched being sliced and baked was superb. We then sampled their variation of pizza which is called pissa. It was so mellow moorish and munch-able, that there was hardly any room for the main meal.

But we just about found room for the lovely Bianco al Basilico, a dessert of boiled milk infused with basil.

The restaurant is a bold venture and offers master classes in both carving and baking, easily bookable on their website.

It is very reasonably priced for the quality that you get, so that you might end up spending £20- £25 for a meal, and enjoy an evening of free theatre thrown in. The wine is superb, so Cheers, or as they say in Italian “Salute.“

“There is a sign saying La Qualità è Scalza, which means Quality is Bare Foot.

The idea is that quality lies in things that you make yourself.”

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Voice from Westminster

Looking forward to a year of challenges Neil Coyle MP I am always pleased to stand up for the thriving business sector in Southwark – from the large finance sector at More London, to global brands like Ministry of Sound at the Elephant, to the smallest barber like Alan’s on Newcomen Street. My last few weeks have been filled with business activities.

I hosted the Migrant Entrepreneurs’ Breakfast, which was a great chance to celebrate the large contribution migrants make to the UK. Nearly half a million people from 155 countries have settled in Britain and launched businesses. These businesses are responsible for 14% of all SME-job creation and are a credit to Britain.

Unfortunately, this is a contribution under threat.

Brexit is already hitting the attractiveness of the UK as a place to come and live, work or study.

We have a skills shortage as well as needing unskilled workers in our massive local leisure and hospitality sector and its businesses that stand to lose out as the Government continues with its ill-planned Brexit folly. Far from ‘saving’

£350 million per week as some Leave campaigners claimed, the Brexit costs already total £50 billion. I will not be voting for Britain to be made worse off – or paying millions per year for access to, but no control over, EU rules.

I enjoyed speaking at the British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA) reception at Westminster. The BTHA is on Long Lane and covers members across the country – speaking up for their interests in Parliament and in the EU. The BTHA run the Toy Trust to help disadvantaged children and have kindly donated new gifts to the Pecan foodbank in Southwark. Foodbanks need food, toiletries, nappies and Christmas presents if you can help too?

Southwark council has also been working closely with local businesses, using its procurement, commissioning and planning weight to lever apprenticeships and job opportunities into contracts across the borough and in a range of sectors. The Tate Modern has been one partner and hosted the recent celebration of Southwark council having now helped 5,000 people through this innovative work in just three years. Not every council is as

effective as Southwark, but I support the delegation of more employment programme funding to London or local authorities. DWP is utterly failing to trial anything inventive – other than requiring debt and delays in its appalling Universal Credit rollout which may be affecting your employees as it now hits 5,000 people in Southwark.

I have secured a Westminster debate on the Government’s financial support for victims of terrorism. The eight minute

attack at London Bridge and Borough Market in June cost local businesses £1.4 million.

Whilst Sadiq Khan and Southwark council have provided close to £300,000 in help, the Government has yet to offer a penny. Insurers were slow to respond and the legislative framework needs updating and this will be the focus of my debate.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and all the best for 2018!

“We have a skills shortage as well as needing unskilled workers in our massive local leisure and hospitality sector and its businesses that stand to lose out as the Government continues with its ill-planned Brexit folly. Far from ‘saving’ £350 million per week as some Leave campaigners claimed, the Brexit costs already total £50 billion.”

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Health & Wellbeing

New Year new you This New Year, as the kids go back to school, why not take the chance to embark on a fresh challenge yourself?

With everything we have on offer, there are no excuses not to try something new at an Everyone Active centre!

What’s more, all borough residents are now able to use the gym and swim for free at Southwark Council leisure centres.* Camberwell Leisure Centre With recent British cycling success on both track and road racing, it’s no surprise that cycling is more popular than ever, so why not set your heart racing with an indoor cycling class?

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Camberwell Leisure Centre offers Stages Cycling classes, the leading edge of technology in the world of cycling.

Dulwich Leisure Centre A place for the family to enjoy, Dulwich Leisure Centre offers everything from swimming lessons to group exercise classes. Following a recent refurbishment, the fitness suite boasts state of the art strength and cardio equipment.

Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Sports Facility Not played sport since your schooldays? Not a problem!

At Geraldine Mary Harmsworth

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Sports Facility has everything you could want and more, from astroturf pitches to netball courts to tennis courts. Come down and twirl a tennis racket, bounce a basketball, or have a kickabout. The facilities are available to hire throughout the week… what are you waiting for?

Seven Islands Seven Islands Leisure Centre is a place for all the family, following a substantial refurbishment. From swimming lessons to martial arts classes, there’s everything for everyone. Martial arts training results in several benefits including their physical and mental health. What’s more, with the extensive fitness equipment, you’ve got everything you need to get fighting fit!

Surrey Docks Fitness and Watersports Centre Tucked away in the heart of London, next to the Thames, Surrey Docks offers a 1km water sports dock where visitors can try sailing, kayaking, wind surfing, canoeing and more, along with a wide range of dry activities.

Time to try something new and take to the seas. Sort of. Ahoy!

There’s also a well-equipped gym with one of the best views in London, the River Thames and Canary Wharf.

The Castle Situated in the heart of the Elephant and Castle regeneration project, The Castle is a fantastic place to train. Following on from suggestions from the local community, there has been a further £60,000 investment in the one-year-old, £20m leisure centre. There is now a larger strength area with new strength equipment, to match the requirements of the members.

Please visit www.everyoneactive.com for more information. *Terms and conditions apply.

Health and Wellbeing

Putting health at the top of the business agenda More and more employers are recognising their responsibility to help keep their staff healthy, a trend that has led to the growth of specialist organisations that can offer expert advice. Southwark is well placed to meet the need with a number of organisations working in the field.

Businesses are recognising good employee health as a core asset Britain’s best businesses are investing in health and wellbeing at work, recognising this is vitally important to sustaining success, says Richard Jones, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

Latest annual figures released on 1 November 2017 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) using Labour Force Statistics make for stark reading. Ill health caused by work takes a heavy toll on our economy and society.

There’s more we should do to encourage health and wellbeing at work.

In 2016/17, an estimated 1.3 million workers suffered a work-related illness (new or longstanding), with around 80% either musculoskeletal disorders or stress, depression or anxiety.

Occupational lung diseases accounted for 90% of the estimated 13,000 deaths linked to past exposures at work – often decades ago – which is why IOSH’s No Time to Lose campaign, supported by over 200 organisations, was set up to beat occupational cancers.

Mental ill health is also on the rise, now a primary cause of absence from work in the UK affecting one in six workers in Great Britain. The HSE attributes 49% of all working days lost due to ill health to stress, depression or anxiety.

This may be why Stephen Martin, Director-General of the Institute of Directors (IoD), chose to speak about tackling mental ill health in the workplace on 20 November at the IOSH 2017 conference.

Later that day, Matthew Taylor, who reviewed modern working practices for the government this year, joined us to discuss the safety and health implications of Good Work, and a follow-on investigation

by IOSH indicating nonpermanent workers are less well looked after.

Then Tony Bickerstaff, Chief Financial Officer of Costain Group explained why he dedicates much of his time and attention to promoting and improving the health and wellbeing of company staff as well as over 30,000 workers in the company’s supply chain.

The costs of workplace mental health are now widelydiscussed. The governmentcommissioned Stevenson-Farmer review

of mental health and employers, Thriving at work, on 26 October revealed the full extent of the issue in the UK, estimating poor mental health costs the economy £99 billion.

Stephen Martin of the IoD puts “the scale of mental health problems at work” and the working time lost to this as equivalent to 75,000 people not working for a year.

What else motivates these business leaders and finance chiefs to care how employees feel and to support their wellbeing?

One answer is proven performance improvements.

Another is the “competitive advantage” of attracting and retaining the very best employees and encouraging them to thrive in their jobs.

Former HR senior executive with multinational giant Unilever Geoff McDonald tells the personal story of why he is now advocates, campaigns for and consults full time on workplace mental health.

“If a flower doesn’t bloom, there is nothing wrong with the flower. It is the environment in which it lives,” he says, describing people’s energy as the “most limiting resource” within organisations

and something business leaders should look to enhance.

“We can have knowledge, skills and behaviours but if we don’t have energy, we cannot perform.”

Great work has been done here in Britain to improve workplace safety. Now it is time to do the same with health and wellbeing, including gaining further engagement among business owners, upskilling people on spotting the signs of poor mental health and how to treat it, and shifting the narrative.

Organisations can and must do more to enable those affected to return to work, and IOSH has sponsored research on returning to work after suffering from common mental disorders as well as guidance for employers in its occupational health toolkit.

• The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health is the world’s leading chartered professional body for people responsible for safety and health in the workplace. It has more than 47,000 members in more than 130 countries.

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Chamber Events

Upcoming Events Join our informative and engaging range of events.

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

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.

DATE

Wednesday 20 December

EVENT

Friday 26 January

The Brunel Museum and Simplicity Restaurant, Rotherhithe

House of Commons Tour

Meet at 4.45pm for 5.10pm Tour followed by refreshments

Monday 5 February

Practical uses of IT in offices

Wednesday 7 March 8.30am - 10am

BAME Event - Florence Eshalomi

Thursday 5 April 5.45pm start

Bankside History Walk

Monday 19 February Wednesday 14 March 8.30am - 10am Thursday 12 April Thursday 26 April 6pm - 8pm

VENUE

Tour of Brunel Museum followed by Christmas Dinner The Apprenticeship Levy

Thursday 11 January

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

Times and locations to be confirmed.

Ceremony of the Keys

Promoting your Business London Eye

SCC Annual General Meeting

Lewisham and Southwark College The Cut, SE1 South Bank University Tower of London (Tbc) (Tbc)

The George Inn, Borough High Street, SE1

Southwark Chamber of Commerce welcomes its latest member companies

ALD Life

Grosvenor Property

Aurora Financial Solutions Ltd

LaLiT London Hotel

Chief Executive Officer Charity/Charity Shop Business 45 Peckham High Street London SE15 5EB Tel: 020 7701 4388 Email sara@aldlife.org

Halta Haxhia Independent Financial Adviser 56-57 The Hop Exchange Southwark Street London SE1 1TY Tel: 020 3713 7600 Email: halta@aurorafinancial.co.uk

Menzies Accountants

Kate Nottidge Head of Community and Legacy The Grosvenor Office 70 Grosvenor Street London W1K 3JP Tel: 020 7408 0988 Email: Kate.Nottidge@Grosvenor.com

Ralph Mitchison 7- !2 Tavistock Square London WC1H 9LT Tel: 020 7387 5868 Email: RMitchison@menzies.co.uk Email: TWoods@menzies.co.uk

Tanu Narula Director of Sales 181 Tooley Street London SE1 2JE Tel: 07715144482 Email: tanu.narula@thelalit.com

Katharine Glass Director Marketing and Events Agency First Floor, Suffolk House George Street, Croydon CR0 1PE Tel: 020 8726 7968 Email: Jo.Gumb@gmail.com

White Label Creative

To find out more about becoming a member contact: Southwark Chamber of Commerce. Southbank Techno Park, 90 London Road, London. SE1 6LN Tel : 07477 581977 admin@southwarkcommerce.com

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Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

Languages

Last Word

French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and German classes Starting Tuesday January 30th 2018

A series of language courses will be running from January for ten weeks.

The cost is £180 for new students and £150 for returning students.

The Tuesday classes will be held near the Barbican and the Thursday classes will be held at More London (near London Bridge).

Courses are open to beginners, intermediate

and advanced speakers of French, Spanish and Italian as well as beginner and intermediate students of German, and beginner students of Portuguese.

Class Times and Locations French classes

(all sessions 45 mins)

www.languages2000.co.uk/french • Beginners plus French at More London Thursday 12.45pm start date February 1st • Intermediate French at More London Thursday 7.15pm start date February 1st • Advanced French at More London Thursday 1.30pm start date February 1st • Higher intermediate/advanced French Near the Barbican Tuesday 8.00am start date January 30th

Spanish classes

www.languages2000.co.uk/spanish • Beginners Spanish at More London Thursday 8.00pm start date February 1st • intermediate Spanish at More London Thursday 6.30pm start date February 1st • Advanced Spanish at More London Thursday 8.45pm start date February 1st

Italian classes

• Beginners plus Italian at More London Thursday 12.00pm start date February 1st • Intermediate/advanced Italian at More London Thursday 5.00pm start date February 1st

• Beginners plus Italian near the Barbican Tuesday 8.00am start date January 30th

what was the pay packet?

Waitressing in Long Island, New York!

I was there on the J1 (a working student visa) along with my closest friends. The pay packet barely covered food and board, but the tips gave us a bit of spending money to make it a summer to remember.

what would be your first decision?

I would safeguard the future of the NHS.

www.languages2000.co.uk/german

• Intermediate German at More London Thursday 5.45pm start date February 1st

• Beginner German at More London Thursday 8.45pm start date February 1st

• Beginners Portuguese at More London Thursday 8.45pm start date February 1st

To join the mailing list please link to http://eepurl.com/bev4c9

I grew up in a small Irish town in Co. Meath, but left to study law in Galway, Murcia and finally the London College of Law. I was lucky enough to settle in East Dulwich and complete my training contract with the same practice where I am now Partner, William Bailey Solicitors. Having been operating for nearly 30 years, covering Wills, Probate, Family Law and Conveyancing, it is great to feel a real part of the community.

Q2 If you were prime minister,

German classes

Please contact Susan on susanelizabethisaacs@icloud.com

William Bailey Solicitors Partner

Q1 What was your first job and

www.languages2000.co.uk/italian

SPECIAL MULTI LANGUAGE DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE www.languages2000.co.uk

Sarah-Jane Mundow

Q3 What is the biggest challenge in your business?

Probably the same as every small business – keeping revenues up.

Q4 If you could do another job, what would it be?

I’d love to be an optician. I find it fascinating and the advances in optometry have been phenomenal over the years.

Having worn glasses from a young age myself, I know first-hand what a difference optometrists make.

Q5 What's your favourite London building?

Very tough call, but I have had a romantic fascination with the London Coliseum ever since I first saw the Nutcracker ballet there as a teenager.

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

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.

(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 The Worshipful Mayor of Southwark Charlie Smith 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 and former Councillor)

Executive Members

Vice Chair Vice Chair Vice Chair and Honorary Solicitor Honorary Secretary 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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Yoko De Souza Les Johnson Peter Mantell Ken Hayes Karon Cook Roger Beckett Edward Cree Barrie Cunning Duncan Field Peter Hadfield Dan Harder William Harwood Susan Isaacs James Kislingbury Barry Langfield Cait Wilkinson Sonia Sutton

Southwark BUSINESS TODAY

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