Luxury London Magazine August 2018

MAGAZINE

August 2018 £7.00

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CONTENTS 22

34

27 UP FRONT 12 EDITOR’S LETTER 15 OBJECTS OF DESIRE Globetrotter marks 100 years of the RAF 22 LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

Italian businessman Flavio Briatore makes his next move

THE INVASION, PAUL TSUI

42 THE AGENDA

68 BACK TO THE FUSCHIA

Frida Kahlo’s wardrobe comes

Feel pretty in pink with Gucci

THE MIRROR

Fitzdares’s Balthazar Fabricius

C U LT U R E

DRIVE

Michael Jackson’s lesser-known mystery tour of Bahrain

COUTURE

28 THE COLOUR OF MONEY Glamorous gambling with

and Orlebar Brown

to the capital 48 MANAMA IN

72 WHEELS OF FORTUNE Morgan Motor Company champions British design 76 LET’S GET PHYSICAL

54 HOW TO SPOT ALAÏA The Design Museum’s homage to the late couturier 58 SUNNY DELIGHT

Testing Porsche’s most practical motor: the Panamera estate

CONNOISSEUR

Tangerine accessories from 34 THE BIG PICTURE National Geographic’s Travel Photographer of the Year

Dior, Kalmar and Givenchy 60 TROPIC THUNDER High heat and Hawaiian shirts

84 WOLFGANG PUCK The Austrian chef marks 35 years in the kitchen

89

72

106

89 RESTAURANT STORY

106 U NDER THE TUSCAN SUN

A new era for Tom Sellers’

Inside the former Duke of

Tooley Street restaurant 90 A NEW BREED OF SEAFOOD

Tuscany’s holiday home 113 C A P R I S U N

London’s latest gourmet trend

ESCAPE 96 LA DOLCE VITA

Driving – and eating – along

Italy’s Campania coast

There’s nothing fishy about

1 1 8 A PASSION FOR PUGLIA Exploring the charming town

of Alberobello and more

PROPERTY

A new underground spa in Puglia and a palatial villa in

124 INSIDER KNOWLEDGE

Lake Como

The latest property news

102 LA SERENISSIMA’S LITTLE SECRET A 16th-century palace reopens in the heart of Venice

130 ART ATTACK Public art at Chelsea Barracks 134 STREETS AHEAD

This month’s hottest properties

COV E R Raja Iliya, The Ultimate Pool Party, Koh Samui, 2017; ‘People’s Choice’ runner-up, National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year 2018, © Raja Iliya, travelingkameleon.com (p.34).

FROM THE EDITOR EDITOR Richard Brown

August 2018 Issue 03

Flavio Briatore has always been good for a fruity soundbite. “I will never invest in a football club again,” he said, on selling Queens Park Rangers in 2011. “It’s only ever a good idea if you’re very rich and looking for ways to waste your money. In two years’ time you’ll be very poor and won’t have that problem anymore.”

Briatore comes from a family of teachers; his sisters, parents and grandparents were all in education. Flavio didn’t want to be a teacher. Or a fireman. He hated the fact that his father bought him shoes to grow into. Flavio wanted to make money, proper money.

Flavio wanted to be a star.

CONTENT DIRECTOR Dawn Alford DEPUTY EDITOR Ellen Millard JEWELLERY EDITOR Mhairi Graham EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Abisha Sritharan Philippa Baker

“For me it was quite simple,” he said. “You only have one life. It’s like a movie, and you are part of the movie, and if you are a part of the movie, it’s better to play the protagonist.

When you watch Ben-Hur you don’t notice the guy running behind the chariot – you see Ben-Hur. I wanted to play Ben-Hur, not the guy that people saw running behind the chariot for two seconds.”

EDITOR-AT-LARGE Annabel Harrison

Flavio got his wish. He received his time in the spotlight, perhaps not always for the reasons he would have liked. For every headline documenting a race win, fashion store launch or glitzy restaurant opening, an equal number of column inches were dedicated to tales of supermodels and allegations of race fixing and tax dodging. Unsurprisingly, the Italian tycoon has become somewhat press adverse. Securing an interview with him was a coup.

GENERAL MANAGER Fiona Smith

Scandals aside, it’s hard to knock Briatore’s business achievements. He’s certainly never let a little thing like inexperience stand in between him and success. Just six years after joining Benetton Formula One – having grown the fashion side of the business into a global empire – the erstwhile ski instructor and complete motorsport neophyte steered his team to the top of the 1995 Constructor’s Championship. He did the same thing with Renault in 2005 and 2006.

Off the track, Briatore piloted QPR to the Premier League, launched an eco-resort in Kenya, and has expanded into nightclubs, restaurants and designer clothing under his umbrella-brand Billionaire. Read the interview on page 22 and sample for yourself a flavour of Flavio’s life at Sumosan Twiga, the bacchanalian, Japanese-Italian restaurantcum-bar-cum-boîte that he has opened on Sloane Street.

Villain or virtuoso? You decide.

HEAD OF DESIGN Laddawan Juhong

PRODUCTION MANAGER Alice Ford COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Andrew Turner BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORS Rachel Gilfillan Collin Saunders MANAGING DIRECTOR Eren Ellwood

PUBLISHED BY

RICH ARD BROWN Ed itor

ONE CANADA SQUARE, CANARY WHARF, LONDON, E14 5AX T: 020 7537 6565 LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

WWW.LUXURYLONDONMEDIA.CO.UK

How to buy a watch online: 1. Go to Wempe.com 2. Get directions to the boutique 3. Meet with our passionate team on New Bond Street

43–44 New Bond Street, London W1S 2SA london�wempe.com +44(0)20 7493 2299

A LIFE IN COLOUR FA B E R G E . C O M

@ O F F I C I A L FA B E R G E

FA B E R G É P R O U D LY U S E S G E M F I E L D S C O L O U R E D G E M S T O N E S

OBJECTS OF DESIRE THIS MONTH’S MOST WANTED CHANEL JEWELLERY TO CRUSH ON Chanel’s Coco Crush rings are a subtle nod to the brand’s heritage, with a quilted design that mirrors the leather stitching of its famous 2.55 bag.

First launched in 2015, the line is updated each year with new styles – for 2018, and for the first time, the brand has launched new pendants in 18k yellow, beige and white gold, along with a new five-tiered ring with interlinking quilted gold and diamond bands. chanel.com

Coco Crush necklace, available in 18k beige, yellow or white gold, from £2,100 Coco Crush bracelet in beige gold (£5,550) and white gold with diamonds (£8,300) Coco Crush rings, from £1,900

STIRLING MOSS’S ITALIAN ICE CREAM RACER Stirling Moss’s Maserati Eldorado, which he drove in the 1958 Monza, was not the winning vehicle it was expected to be, finishing seventh overall after three heats – but it has gone down in history for a different reason. The first European single-seater racer to be sponsored by a non-

motoring brand, the car was commissioned by Italian icecream company Eldorado, with its design a tribute to its gelato roots. Cream in colour, the zany motor was emblazoned with the brand’s cowboy logo, ‘Italia’ in racing red and the name of its driver, Sir Stirling Moss.

The Maserati Eldorara is now part of the Panini Collection, housed in the Panini Motor Museum in Modena.

Indy type singleseater with tubular structure and aluminium bodywork Engine: 90° V8

Power: 410 hp at 8,000 rpm Top speed: more than 215 mph

LUXURY LONDON

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

CARAN D’ACHE’S LOVE LETTER TO HOROLOGY The worlds of the written missive and haute horology colide in Caran d’Ache’s latest innovation: 1010 Timekeeper. The second in an exclusive series of watchthemed pens – released a decade after the first – the limited-edition scribe pays homage to watch dials. The most obvious salutes are in the decorative Roman numerals and steel hands, but look closer and you’ll spot the Dauphine handinspired pocket clip and a piston pump designed to mimic the aperture of a moon-phase display.

Even the finishing has been carefully considered: employing techniques typical of the nation’s most practised horologists, the Swiss penmaker completed its latest addition with guillochagé, engraving, manual polishing, lacquering and a PVD treatment. £7,950 for roller pen; £8,950 for fountain pen, carandache.com

WEMPE TO HOST NEW PATEK PHILIPPE COLLECTION Wempe, Bond Street, will be hosting an exclusive Patek Philippe exhibition from 6–12 August, providing first-hand access to 10 new timepieces that were only revealed at Baselworld 2018.

Models on display will include a new rose gold version of the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time and a rose gold chronograph for ladies, as well as this white gold 5205G-013 Annual Calendar.

5205G-013 ANNUAL CALENDAR Mechanical in-house self-winding movement

Day, date and month in apertures, as well as moon phase and 24-hour display

40mm white gold case with concave bezel and blue sunburst dial

£36,720

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

17

JIMMY CHOO’S ODE TO URBAN STYLE Following the success of its Off-White collaboration for SS18, Jimmy Choo has gone one step further in embracing street style with a Pre-Fall 2018 collection inspired by chic city dwellers.

Marrying edgy shapes with the brand’s traditionally glamorous aesthetic, Sandra Choi presents a range of pumps, heels and loafers that channels the rising global trend for street wear and

style – including the return of the brand’s I Want Choo designs in a new red stiletto and black-and-white clutch.

“We’re looking at everything urban and cosmopolitan. The technique and the technical.

Because we’re all in transition, constantly evolving,” says Choi. “The Jimmy Choo woman is unanchored and transient, constantly on the move – which makes her so of the moment.”

From £395, jimmychoo.com

LUXURY LONDON

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

PRADA’S CINÉMA COLLECTION GETS A SCREEN TEST Prada has introduced its latest collection of sunglasses and eyewear by way of a new digital project. A short film starring model Giedre Dukauskaite features the latest additions to the Prada Cinéma collection, a 1960s-inspired range of acetate frames in retro cat-eye shapes and black, nude and silver styles.

From £280, prada.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

19

LUXURY LONDON

OBJECTS OF DESIRE

HARRODS UNVEILS ITS RAREST TREASURES Unique objects abound at Harrods, from one-of-akind jewels to limitededition bottles of wine.

Discover the top of the crop in its new store-wide celebration of exclusive

artefacts, featuring a Chaumet tiara, Belgian albino caviar and a Swarovski crystal rocking horse, to name a few.

“For me, rarity is one of the most authentic indicators of luxury,” says Harrods’ chief merchant Helen David. “In this

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

20

day and age, when we all have instant access to everything, ‘unique’, ‘made-to-order’ and ‘exclusive’ have become essential to luxury actually being luxurious.”

Until 16 August, harrods.com

The Breitling Jet Squad Jacques Bothelin Christophe Deketelaere Paco Wallaert

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AIR

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05/07/2018 13:33

L I F E FEARED, REVERED, DISGRACED, ACQUITTED, REBORN; F O R Y E A R S F L AV I O B R I AT O R E WA S D E F I N E D B Y H I S C H E Q U E R E D H I S T O R Y

I N

T H E

A N D W I N - AT- A L L - C O S T S P U R S U I T O F T H E C H E Q U E R E D F L A G . H E M AY H AV E T R A D E D F O R M U L A O N E F O R D E S I G N E R C LOT H I N G A N D G L I T Z Y R E S TA U R A N T S ,

FF AA SS TT BUT THE CHAMELEONIC KINGPIN NEVER LOST INTEREST IN THE THRILL OF THE CHASE

L A N E Words: Richard Brown

LUXURY LONDON

INTERVIEW

“Success never comes by chance”

“I

t was a good race,” says Flavio Briatore, in thick, guttural Itanglese, “easily the best of the season so far”. It’s early May and we’re speaking a couple of days after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Briatore doesn’t normally do interviews; a sensationalist media obsessed with the more salacious aspects of his life has seen to that. After some toing and froing, however, we’ve managed to secure this trans-Channel telephone interview as the 68-year-old fashion and nightclub magnate dances between meetings in Monaco. Aware of his aversion to the press, Formula One provides a patch of safe ground on which to kick things off.

Two days earlier, the Baku-based street circuit yielded a nail-biter, the third in as many years. A puncture had deprived Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas of victory two laps from the finish line; his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, was gifted an unlikely victory after Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel botched a manoeuvre in the dying moments of the race. A reckless crash between Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen had already ensured that both their weekends ended in discontent, and a scolding from some out-of-pocket team bosses.

“The street course makes the race more interesting,” says Flavio, previous team principal of Benetton Formula and Renault F1, the former having been acquired by the latter at the turn of the millennium. “This is what people want. I feel sorry for Bottas – he should have won the race – but what happened between Hamilton and Vettel made things more exciting. It is this sort of excitement that people want to see!”

Excitement. Adventure. Danger. The thrill of the chase has been the guiding force in Flavio’s life. This is the man who helped transform Formula One from a petrol-heads’ hobby into the most glamorous sport on the planet; a man who grew Benetton into a global fashion empire before launching his own designer label, Billionaire Couture, which he later sold to Philipp Plein.

Briatore owns nightclub-restaurants in London, Monte Carlo, Sardinia and Dubai; a safari resort in Kenya; and the 63-metre superyacht Force Blue, currently in the custody of Italian law enforcement (but that’s another story). In 2008, Briatore married Wonderbra model Elisabetta Gregoraci

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE RUIZ

– 30 years his junior – but only after dating both Naomi Campbell and Heidi Klum (with whom he has a daughter). The wedding was attended by Silvio Berlusconi, Bernie Ecclestone – with whom Briatore briefly owned Queens Park Rangers football club – and former England manager Fabio Capello.

Fernando Alonso drove the wedding car.

“When I go to my local and see the men in there, I think: there but for the grace of God go I,” said Flavio in an interview with Elle magazine. “I see men locked to their mortgages, their cars, their jobs. These guys are stamped on, they’re caged. The local paper, watching soaps on the telly, taking the dog for a walk ... It’s great for three days, but then I get panicky.”

Born to Catholic school teacher parents in 1950 in Verzuolo, north west Italy, Briatore failed public school twice, before receiving a diploma in land surveying from a local private school. His first job was working as a ski instructor – “I didn’t really like skiing,” he told Esquire, “but all girls fancy the ski instructor, so it made sense” – later becoming an assistant to Attilio Dutto, owner of the Paramatti Vernici paint business. The company would provide Briatore’s first brush with the law.

Paramatti’s previous owner had been Sicily-born banker, Michele Sindona, a mafia-affiliated financier who laundered heroin proceeds for the infamous Gambino family. Sindona was later poisoned in prison. When Dutto was himself killed in a 1979 car bomb attack, Paramatti collapsed and Briatore was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy. He was given a four-and-a-half-year sentence that was subsequently quashed, but not before Briatore had absconded to the safety of the US Virgin Islands.

On being granted amnesty, Briatore moved to Milan and began working for Finanziaria Generale Italia on the Italian stock exchange. During this time, he met, and wooed, Luciano Benetton, founder of the eponymous clothing outfit.

Having earmarked the United States as a growth opportunity, an enamoured Luciano appointed Briatore as director of Benetton’s American operations. By 1989, Briatore had overseen the opening of 800 Benetton stores, shrewdly masterminding a cut of each franchising agreement.

In Australia in 1998, the former ski instructor attended his first Formula One Grand Prix. The race

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weekend would change his life. The following year, a self-confessed motorsport ignoramus, Briatore joined team Benetton simply as a “friend of Luciano”. A year later, he was running the show.

Derided as a T-shirt salesman by F1 rivals, Briatore nonetheless demonstrated a knack for spotting talent. In 1991, he signed up a budding young driver by the name of Michael Schumacher. The German would win his first titles with Benetton in 1994 and 1995.

After a two-year hiatus from team management – he’d been selling Renaultbuilt Formula One engines to Williams and BAR – Briatore returned as managing director of Benetton-Renault in 2001 (Renault having purchased Benetton Formula the year before).

In 2003, Briatore sensationally fired race driver Jenson Button in favour of a 21-yearold Fernando Alonso. Critics were silenced when the Spaniard won back-to-back Drivers’ Championships in 2005 and 2006.

Briatore regularly touted the belief that Formula One should be entrusted to entertainers, not engineers, seeing no reason why a lack of mechanical experience should impede his managerial abilities. “It’s not because you’re a good spender with American Express that you’d make a good boss of that company,” he said in The Sunday Times.

“There’s a difference, no? Because if there’s not a difference, plenty of my ex-girlfriends would be chairmen.”

Briatore, of course, is no longer involved in Formula One – he was given an indefinite ban in 2009 (later overturned) after allegedly ordering Nelson Piquet Jnr to crash deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, handing victory to teammate Alonso – yet his lion-maned silhouette continues to cast a shadow at race weekends.

During the noughties, he helped create the star-studded carousel that Formula One is today, elevating, in the process, racing drivers back to movie star status. How, then, has the game changed since his departure?

“The championship is contested between four cars; those that belong to Ferrari and Mercedes. No one has

BRIATORE AT THE 2018 MONACO FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX © CRISTIANO BARNI / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

the financial resource to keep up with these guys.

You now have teams that have 1,200 people involved – 1,200 people to put two cars into a race. It’s madness.”

What can be done to improve competition? “They need to bring costs down – only then will everyone have an equal chance to compete. People want to see competition between six or seven drivers, not two, but that will only happen if it doesn’t cost so much to race.”

Just how good was Michael Schumacher?

“Michael was of a certain breed; you have Michael, you have [Ayrton] Senna. I was lucky to work with Michael and Fernando Alonso. It was a unique time to have so many stars in Formula One. Now the mechanics and the technology are as important as the person in the car.”

Who do you consider to be the greatest driver of all time? “It’s difficult. Schumacher? Senna? Piquet?

Hamilton, maybe? If you put them in the same car in the same race, I don’t know. They all had different cars. In the time of Piquet and Senna, it was them driving the car. Whoever is driving a Mercedes today has the possibility of winning the championship.”

From Formula One to high-end hospitality; in 1998, Flavio opened Billionaire nightclub in

LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

Sardinia’s fashionable Costa Smeralda – “Billionaire is an arrogant name but I wanted a name for my brand that was exciting” – before rolling out the premium nightclub concept to Marbella, Bodrum and Monte Carlo. Italian restaurant Cipriani’s arrived in Mayfair in 2004, before ventures in Tuscany and Dubai.

So what can diners expect from a Flavio Briatore restaurant, other than a lumpy bill?

“Quality and exclusivity – and that doesn’t just mean expensive food. The food is largely the same from London to Monaco to Dubai – what we try to do is create an atmosphere. That starts with good food, good staff, a good DJ – a restaurant must offer the whole package.”

At the tail-end of 2016, Briatore teamed up with Janina Wolkow – founder of acclaimed upmarket Japanese restaurant chain Sumosan – to launch Sumosan Twiga, a three-floor Japanese-Italian hybrid at the Knightsbridge end of Sloane Street. Post interview, I was invited to dine there.

ALL IMAGES SUMOSAN TWIGA LONDON

Sandwiched between a top-floor bar and subterranean boîte, a black-and-white brasserie serves Italian classics alongside contemporary Japanese dishes. Rather than fuse together two contrary cuisines, Sumosan Twiga offers two separate menus side by side. Waiters encourage you to go cross country. It’s weird but it works. The setting isn’t as chic as Zuma or Nobu, nor L’Anima or Locanda Locatelli – worn carpets, scuffed skirting and botched paintjobs can’t hide the fact that the same premises has only recently been battered by unsuccessful ventures from Jamie Oliver, Alain Ducasse and Gordon Ramsay. The food, both types, however, is some of the best of its kind in the capital.

Applause, too, to an upbeat playlist that has Briatore written all over it.

“People are looking for energy,” says the man who previously presented the Italian version of The Apprentice, “a welcoming, exciting atmosphere. It’s all about assembling the right team, just like it was in Formula One. We won there with a low budget because we had such good people. It’s the same with restaurants.”

In the background, sudden indistinctive instructions indicate that Flavio’s people are calling time on the interview; my cue to wrap up. Who are your heroes?

“I respect everybody who is successful. Everyone that is successful has worked for it. Success never comes by chance.”

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

“Never give up.”

How about the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

“The biggest risk would be to die.”

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THE COLOUR OF

MONEY D E D I C A T E D T O T H E W E L L - C O N N E C T E D A N D S E R I O U S LY W E L L - H E E L E D , B A LT H A Z A R FA B R I C I U S A N D H I S B E S P O K E B O O K M A K E R S F I T Z D A R E S ARE PUTTING THE GLAMOUR BACK INTO GAMBLING

Words: Richard Brown

W

ith a name like his, Balthazar Fabricius was never destined for a job in IT. Yet despite being brought up on the Goodwood Estate by a father who served as Lord March’s racecourse manager – he named his son after the protagonist in J.P. Donleavy’s novel The Beastly Beatitudes Of Balthazar B – real-life Balthazar says his entry into bookmaking was purely coincidence.

“I graduated from King’s College London with a degree in Spanish and a love of music and sport,” says the 38-yearold. “As one does, I started frantically sending out CVs left, right and centre and managed to secure a place on a graduate scheme run by Ladbrokes.”

Three and a half years later in 2006, Fabricius approached Zac and

Ben Goldsmith, whom he’d met during the Ladbrokes World Spoofing Championships (a pub game in which contestants guess the number of coins held in the hand of another player) with a business proposition.

“I wanted to herald a return to the grassroots principles of betting. I wanted to re-establish the personal relationship that used to exist between punter and bookmaker.” The Goldsmiths bought in and Fitzdares was founded.

Gambling used to be done on a handshake and the whites of the client’s eyes

What does your experience tell you about why people gamble?

Gambling for many people is an escape from the stresses of everyday life.

Bookmaking in its simplest form is a game. You’re trying to win money off me, and I’m trying to win money off you. That’s what it boils down to. It’s a game of knowledge and confidence.

What elements of traditional bookmaking does Fitzdares aim to reinstate?

The romance; the integrity. I love the fact that gambling debts weren’t enforceable by law until very recently.

It was all done on a handshake and the whites of the client’s eyes. The relationship that you had with your bookmaker was akin to the one that you’d have with your bank manager

LUXURY LONDON

INTERVIEW

or priest. We aim to restore that personal relationship.

From where did the name Fitzdares derive?

Elizabeth Fitzdare, who was Balthazar B’s love interest in the J.P. Donleavy novel.

How does Fitzdares work?

We have a members’ club philosophy but we’re not snobby about who we take on. We set up an analogue, telephone business. Every member has their own personal telephone number. There’s no password or account number, we know immediately who’s calling. We invented text message betting, which is now very popular. But we also knew we needed to be digital so we’ve spent the last couple of years building our own app. You can now call, text, or place bets through our app.

Don’t you think it’s remarkable how quickly people have forgotten how staggering it was that Leicester City won the Premier League?

was close; I came second. Arthur has subsequently become a good friend.

How many members do you have?

Around 5,000.

Which recent event has proved particularly lucrative to you?

I won’t pretend we took lots of money on the event, but last year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year was a real surprise. Anthony Joshua was 8/1 on and he was beaten by Mo Farah.

On what events can members bet?

Anything. All kinds of sport, Strictly Come Dancing, anything. Someone asked me for a price on a friend becoming the next England football manager. We put a price on that, and designed a bet certificate that they framed and put in their downstairs loo. It’s those little things that give us our kicks.

How about the Mayweather vs McGregor fight?

That, in truth, was a good result for bookmakers. Mayweather was always a very short price, but as it got closer to the event, there was a lot of support for McGregor. I’m sure most people who backed McGregor did so probably knowing he wasn’t going to win, but they really hoped he would.

In 2012 you fought documentary filmmaker Arthur Landon in a white collar boxing match. Why? I had just found out that my wife and I were having twins. I thought ‘bloody hell, once these lads start running around, for the first time in my life, I might have to be in shape’. I thought, if I’m going to do this, I should probably sign up to something that will scare the living daylights out of me into training.

It actually started to feel like a rite of passage, because back in the day, lots of bookmakers were boxers – the two are quite closely aligned. The fight

What did you make of Leicester City winning the Premier League?

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

We did actually have someone back Leicester at a very big price. Don’t you think it’s remarkable how quickly people have forgotten how staggering that result was? Truly remarkable.

Tell us about the events that Fitzdares puts on itself...

We try to do one big event each year.

Historically, we’ve hosted events at the White Turf races in St Moritz and held Breeders’ Cup nights at the Mandarin

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Oriental and the Savoy. We also hosted ‘Fighting Futures’, a boxing event at The Ned with 2020 Olympic prospects.

Last year you helped build a cricket pitch in Rwanda…

Yes, that was an amazing project that we played a small part in – to open Rwanda’s first official cricket ground on what had been a killing field during the genocide. It was completely impossible not to buy into that story. It opened to great success. It’s also now a place for people to get HIV tests.

And you were involved with another cricket project in the West Indies?

Yes, with a documentary called Fire in Babylon led Ben Goldsmith. It told the phenomenal story of the West Indies cricket team. Cricket is the only sport that the West Indies compete in together. There’s no West Indies rugby, football or athletics team. In athletics, it’s Jamaica, Barbados etc.

But for cricket, this small group of disjointed islands come together to play. For 18 years they were unbeaten at Test level: no-one could touch them – the Clive Lloyd era, with Viv Richards and Brian Lara at the end.

We gave away thousands of DVDs to all the schools in the West Indies with the idea that they’d someday win the World Cup again. It’s now on the national curriculum.

How can the bookmaking industry improve its own game?

By focusing on the customer.

Customer service can be a very unsexy thing to talk about, but it’s crucial – it’s why we choose one newsagent or coffee shop over another. We need to constantly remind ourselves that we’re in the service and entertainment industry. Our raison d’être has got to be having the best interests of our customers at heart. If you don’t look after your customers, then you have no business.

To apply to Fitzdares, see fitzdares.com

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FRIDA ON THE BENCH, 1939, PHOTOGRAPH BY NICKOLAS MURAY, © NICKOLAS MURAY PHOTO ARCHIVES

P.34 IN FOCUS National Geographic announces its Travel Photographer of 2018

P.42 THE AGENDA What’s on in the capital this month

P.48 MICHAEL JACKSON What happened when the King of Pop fled to Bahrain

C U LT U R E MUSIC,

MUSEUMS &

MASTERPIECES

The Victoria & Albert Museum pays homage to Mexico’s most famous artist, Frida Kahlo, in an exhibition of her treasured possessions (p.45).

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GRAND PRIZE WINNER MERMAID MERMAID PHOTO AND CAPTION PHOTO REIKO TAKAHASHI

BY BY REIKO TAKAHASHI CATEGORY NATURE CATEGORY:NATURE LOCATION KUMEJIMA, JAPAN LOCATION: KUMEJIMA,

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JAPAN REIKOTAKAHASHI. MYPORTFOLIO.COM

R U N N E R - U P, PEOPLE’S CHOICE T H E B A L LO O N WRESTLER PHOTO BY ROB WEISMAN CATEGORY PEOPLE LOCATION SERENGETI RMWPHOTO.COM

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R U N N E R - U P, PEOPLE’S CHOICE I PA N E M A B E A C H PHOTO BY MARCO RACCICHINI CATEGORY CITIES LOCATION: RIO DE JANIERO, BRAZIL MARCORACCICHINI.COM

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HONOURABLE MENTION, CITIES A LO N E I N T H E C R OW D S PHOTO BY GARY CUMMINS CATEGORY CITIES LOCATION: HONG KONG INSTAGRAM.COM/GARYCPHOTO IMAGE COURTESY OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, NATGEO.COM/TRAVELPHOTOCONTEST

TH E AG E N DA YOUR CURATED GUIDE TO CULTURE IN THE CAPITAL Words: Ellen Millard

WESTMINSTER THE CROWN Portraits of royal family members are going on display as part of Prince & Patron, an exhibition of HRH The Prince of Wales’s personal art collection. Available to view during the summer opening of the state rooms at Buckingham Palace, the show will feature portraits of The Duke of Sussex and The Queen Mother, along with other artworks borrowed from the Royal Collection and created by artists who are supported by charities The Prince founded, including The Royal Drawing School, The Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts and Turquoise Mountain.

Until 30 September, Westminster, SW1A, royalcollection.org.uk

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT PREPARATORY SKETCH OF PRINCE WILLIAM; PREPARATORY SKETCH OF PRINCE HARRY, © NICKY PHILIPPS 2009; MICHAEL NOAKES, QUEEN ELIZABETH THE QUEEN MOTHER, 1973, © ANYA AND JONATHAN NOAKES, ALL PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST

R E G E N T ’ S PA R K FRIEZE FRAME Clare Lilley from Yorkshire Sculpture Park has curated this year’s Frieze Sculpture, an outdoor display of art in Regent’s Park that unites artists from across the globe. Among the exhibitors is Rana Begum’s No. 814, four shards of coloured glass that create rainbow shadows when the light’s just right. Get there while the sun’s still out.

Until 7 October, Regent’s Park, NW1, frieze.com

BELOW FROM TOP RANA BEGUM NO. 814, 2018, THE THIRD LINE, JHAVERI CONTEMPORARY, KATE MACGARRY AND GALERIE CHRISTIAN LETHERT; BARRY FLANAGAN, LARGE NIJINSKI ON ANVIL POINT (2001), WADDINGTON CUSTOT, ALL PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEPHEN WHITE, COURTESY OF STEPHEN WHITE/FRIEZE

MILLBANK WAR PAINT

ABOVE FROM TOP CHRISTOPHER RICHARD WYNNE NEVINSON (1889-1946), YPRES AFTER THE FIRST BOMBARDMENT, 1916, COURTESY OF MUSEUMS SHEFFIELD; WILLIAM ROBERTS (1895-1980), THE DANCE CLUB (THE JAZZ PARTY), 1923, COURTESY OF LEEDS MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES, © ESTATE OF JOHN DAVID ROBERTS, BY PERMISSION OF THE TREASURY SOLICITOR

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In the wake of the century that has passed since the end of the First World War, Tate Britain hosts an exhibition devoted to the effects of war on British, German and French art – and how, in turn, this art reacted. The exhibition will feature more than 150 works from 1916 to 1932, identifying themes of remembrance, remorse and rebuilding. In this collection, it is clear that many artists treated the war with immediate retrospect – choosing to focus on its long-term effects and the adaptation of a post-war society.

Until 23 September, Millbank, SW1P, tate.org.uk

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP ENVIRONEMENT CHROMOINTERFERENT; COULEUR ADDITIVE; PHYSICHROMIE; CARLOS CRUZ-DIEZ IN PARIS, 2018

M AY F A I R LIGHT UP A pioneer of kinetic art, Carlos Cruz-Diez creates interactive works that blur the boundaries of colour and shape, producing a kaleidoscopic effect. His creations are now the subject of an immersive public show at Phillips X, the new exhibition space from the Mayfair auction house, where highlights from his hypnotic portfolio will be on display – and available to purchase.

Until 6 September, 30 Berkeley Square, W1J, phillips.com

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KNIGHTSBRIDGE LA FRIDA LOCA Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is given the spotlight in the first exhibition of her belongings outside of her home country. Borrowed from her famous Blue House, clothes, jewellery, make-up and her cherry-red prosthetic leg are on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in a show that explores how the artist’s appearance became one of her greatest works – from her enhanced eyebrows to her floral headpieces.

Until 4 November, Cromwell Road, SW7, vam.ac.uk FROM TOP LEFT PROSTHETIC LEG WITH LEATHER BOOT, APPLIQUÉD SILK WITH EMBROIDERED CHINESE MOTIFS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAVIER HINOJOSA, MUSEO FRIDA KAHLO; FRIDA KAHLO IN BLUE SATIN BLOUSE, 1939, PHOTOGRAPH BY NICKOLAS MURAY, © NICKOLAS MURAY PHOTO ARCHIVES

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP FAMILY WALKING ON HIGHWAY – FIVE CHILDREN. STARTED FROM IDABEL, OKLAHOMA, BOUND FOR KREBS, OKLAHOMA, JUNE 1938, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; WHITE ANGEL BREADLINE, SAN FRANCISCO, 1933, THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA; MIGRANT MOTHER, NIPOMO, CALIFORNIA, 1936, THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA; DROUGHT REFUGEES, CA. 1935 © THE DOROTHEA LANGE COLLECTION, THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA

BARBICAN AMERICAN EYE The first UK exhibition of American photographer Dorothea Lange has opened at the Barbican Art Gallery. The artist exposed human suffering and hardship in her revealing snaps, charting the devastating impact of

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the Great Depression, the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War and the social and political altercations in post-war America. Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing highlights more than 300 prints, publications and documentary film from her career, spanning from 1919 to 1957.

Until 2 September, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y, barbican.org.uk

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MANAMA IN THE MIRROR AS A NEW EXHIBITION EXPLORING THE INFLUENCE

OF MICHAEL JACKSON ON

C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T I S T S O P E N S AT T H E N A T I O N A L P O R T R A I T G A L L E R Y, A L O O K AT T H E L AT E S U P E R S TA R ’ S L I T T L E - K N O W N TENURE IN BAHRAIN THE YEAR BEFORE HE DIED OFFERS AN INSIGHT INTO THIS LEGENDARY PERFORMER’S LIFE

Words: Rob Crossman

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f ever a man was looking to run away from the spotlight he could do worse than move to Bahrain.

Such was the decision taken by Michael Jackson in the immediate aftermath of the trial that, in the summer of 2005, cleared him of 10 charges of child abuse, including molestation, kidnap and the supply of alcohol to the then underage Gavin Arvizo.

Despite the victory, the ordeal of the trial, and the lurid details of Jackson’s personal life that were revealed during the four-month court case, left him a broken man: his innocence proven but his image, long mired in controversy, left permanently tainted.

At the new National Portrait Gallery exhibition, Michael Jackson: On the Wall, there are no images of the performer’s little-known time spent living in Bahrain. It’s only by glimpsing into this episode that we can truly understand how the subsequent comeback shows scheduled for London’s O2 arena were perhaps always doomed to never take place.

Despite the victory, the ordeal of the trial left Jackson a broken man

KEHINDE WILEY, EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT OF KING PHILIP II (MICHAEL JACKSON), 2009

ANDY WARHOL, MICHAEL JACKSON, 1984

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Like so many of Jackson’s plans, his Gulf State reinvention was to leave a trail of debt and discord

“He went into total seclusion”, an unnamed source told Jackson’s biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli.

“He almost lost it all – his freedom, his family, his career.

You don’t just bounce back from something like that.”

To run away from his Neverland Ranch seemed entirely understandable. Yet Jackson caused anger among his own family who, despite staying loyal to him during the trial, were to see almost nothing of him in the months following his acquittal.

Not blessed with the oil wealth of its neighbouring Gulf States, Manama, the capital of Bahrain, has a distinctly less glitzy air to it than Dubai or Doha.

Tiny Bahrain’s main function in the region is as a Vegas-esque getaway for Saudi Arabians. The two nations are linked by a ‘friendship bridge’ and Bahrain’s laws on alcohol and sex outside of marriage are more relaxed, so groups of men, weekending from Riyadh, drinking beer and fraternising with tourists and prostitutes, are a common sight in the hotel bars of Manama.

Jackson, unsurprisingly, had no desire to sample the less than sophisticated nightlife of the city. He took advantage of a connection made previously by his brother Jermaine, who converted to Islam after a visit to the island nation, to hole up in the royal palace.

Befriended by Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Jackson allowed himself to be pampered by the prince who, over the following months, would claim to be looking after almost all of Jackson’s business interests.

So, in temperatures regularly exceeding 40°C, Jackson’s new life in Bahrain, which he intended to be permanent, took shape.

Rarely seeing anybody other than his children and their nanny, Jackson became a regular at the China Garden restaurant inside the sumptuous Gulf Hotel Bahrain, hiring out the whole eatery and dining, utterly alone, amid scores of empty tables.

Suffering from persistent nightmares and exhibiting signs of what his inner circle would later claim were signs of posttraumatic stress disorder, Jackson began therapy sessions for the first time in his life.

“He felt totally victimised by Gavin, the rest of the scheming Arvizos and also by the Santa Barbara district attorney”, one of the inner circle told Taraborrelli.

“God forgive me but I hate that kid,” Jackson is said to have remarked. “I so hate that kid”.

What would turn out to be one of Jackson’s last chances to re-invent his life, well out of the way of the US media spotlight, took only a matter of months to fall apart.

Living in a mansion a couple of miles south of Manama, he did receive occasional guests from the music world, including a member of 50 Cent’s G-Unit rap group.

DJ Whoo Kid claimed to have had a number of meetings with Jackson and, as he later recalled, gave the fallen megastar

some blunt advice when Jackson asked him about how he should change his image: “I told him he needs to cut his hair, get some milliondollar earrings, get a million-dollar watch and take all them spaceship clothes off.”

The idea of Jackson returning to the spotlight as a muscled, shaven-haired bad boy was, for better or worse, never to become manifest.

While occasional sightings of Jackson and his children in the shopping malls of Manama prompted speculation about his mind set (he often wore the veil, abaya and gloves typically worn by conservative Bahraini women), rumours spread locally that a Jackson-endorsed music academy and theme park were in the development stages.

Like so many of Jackson’s plans, both professional and personal in his later years, his Gulf State reinvention was to end quickly and leave a trail of debt and discord in its wake.

In June 2006 it was announced that Jackson had parted company with his representatives and legal team in Bahrain, and was heading to an undisclosed destination in Europe.

Lawsuits followed closely behind his abrupt diparture, with Sheikh Abdulla suing Jackson for $7 million over accusations that the star reneged on a contract for an album, autobiography and a stage play after taking millions of dollars in advances.

The case was settled out of court but a mere 11 months after leaving Bahrain, Jackson, aged just 50, died in Los Angeles. Ultimately, according to many in Jackson’s inner circle, the desire to be accepted in the West again simply made his Middle Eastern exile impossible to sustain.

Nearly a decade on from his death, this strange episode appears like a lost opportunity. The chance to record music in the studio that the Sheikh built for him, the time to begin reaping the benefits of the therapy he had belatedly embarked upon and the opportunity to take serious time out of the spotlight were all within his grasp.

Perhaps Jackson’s tragedy is that, despite the quiet and calm that Bahrain offered him, his need to perform and his hunger to be loved by the world was what drove him away from the tiny island that, initially, promised so much.

Michael Jackson ‘On The Wall’, sponsored by Hugo Boss, from £17.50, until 21 October, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, WC2H npg.org.uk

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CHRISTY TURLINGTON, NEW YORK CITY, 1987, COURTESY OF ARTHUR ELGORT

P.58 TANGERINE DREAM Why orange really is the new black

P.60 TROPIC THUNDER A sartorial guide to summer in Sri Lanka

P.68 IN THE PINK T-shirts and frames in bubblegum shades

COUTURE CUT

FROM

A DIFFERENT

CLOTH

The late couturier Azzedine Alaïa’s life and work is remembered in an exhibition at the Design Museum (p.54).

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ALAÏA T H E L I F E O F PA R I S I A N C O U T U R I E R A Z Z E D I N E A L A Ï A’ S I S R E M E M B E R E D I N H I S F I N A L P R O J E C T, A C O M M E M O R AT I V E E X H I B I T I O N AT T H E D E S I G N M U S E U M

Words: Ellen Millard

A 17-YEAR-OLD Naomi Campbell is painting the Parisian town red with her friends and colleagues Iman and Grace Jones. They’re at the nightclub Les Bains Douches (now a hotel), and Prince is due on stage imminently. Then there’s a tap on her shoulder. It’s her Papa, a.k.a couturier Azzedine Alaïa.

After a stern telling off, she’s ordered home – but not before he fixes the outfit she’s wearing, which she pinched from his shop earlier in the day. Having taken the stubborn south Londoner under his wing in the early stages of her career, Alaïa become a father figure to Campbell, attempting to keep her in line when she

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT AZZEDINE ALAÏA, PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER LINDBERGH; NAOMI CAMPBELL AND AZZEDINE ALAÏA, PARIS, 1986, PHOTOGRAPHY

BY ARTHUR ELGORT; AZZEDINE ALAÏA WITH MODEL FREDERIQUE, WHO WEARS HIS BLACK LEATHER ZIPPERED DRESS, 1986, PHOTOGRAPHY BY ARTHUR ELGORT

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He shunned the traditional fashion week schedule, instead choosing to show his collections when he was ready was in town. He eventually made her sleep in the room above his, so that he would hear if she snuck out.

When he died at the end of last year, Campbell was one of the first to pay tribute, remembering not just his generosity but his influence on the fashion world. Throughout his career Alaïa shunned the traditional fashion week schedule, instead choosing to reveal his collections when he was ready – in some cases years after his last show. His unique method of pattern cutting – draping the fabric over his models and shaping it to suit their bodies – meant his clothes were always in tune with the female figure, designed to amplify the wearer’s best features.

Alaïa’s pioneering approach is now the subject of a blockbuster exhibition at the Design Museum, curated in partnership with the couturier himself. More than 60 rare garments spanning the designer’s career are on display, alongside a selection of specially commissioned pieces by leading creatives, including Marc Newson, Kris Ruhs and Tatiana Trouvé – designers with whom Alaïa had a personal connection.

The tributes that flooded in following Alaïa’s passing are testament to what an inspiration he was, with the likes of Alexander Wang, Edward Enninful and Marc Jacobs paying homage to his timeless designs – but it is in his own words that his influence is best summed up: “My obsession is to make women beautiful. When you create with that in mind, things can’t go out of fashion”.

ABOVE NAOMI CAMPBELL WEARING AZZEDINE ALAÏA’S TATI COLLECTION SPRING SUMMER 1991, PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELLEN VON UNWERTH

£16, until 7 October, 224-238 Kensington High Street, W8, designmuseum.org

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LEFT AZZEDINE ALAÏA AND JOAN SEVERANCE IN ALAÏA, PHOTOGRAPHY

BY ARTHUR ELGORT FOR VOGUE, 1982; RIGHT NAOMI CAMPBELL WEARING AZZEDINE ALAÏA’S TATI COLLECTION SPRING SUMMER 1991, PHOTOGRAPHY

BY ELLEN VON UNWERTH

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M A L I K A F TA N Kalmar’s cover-ups are made for sun-soaked days. Throw this 100 per cent silk kaftan on for an easy route from lounger to lunch. £595, kalmarlifestyle.com

L ’ E A U TA N Merging the worlds of make-up, fragrance and skincare, Chanel presents a new hydrating selftan that leaves the skin with a natural-looking glow and a fresh scent created by master perfumer Olivier Polge. £48, chanel.com

J E Y KA S A N DA L S A comfortable pair of heeled sandals is hard to come by. Cue Isabel Marant’s Jeyka, a pair of chunky gladiators with a block heel for comfort and height. £510, net-a-porter.com

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DIORIZON 2 SUNGLASSES These tangerine frames by Dior are the ultimate summer accessory.

Just add sushine. £248, farfetch.com

WHITE HORSE SWIMSUIT Designed in France’s surf capital Biarritz, Bower’s swimwear collection is a reponse to the lack of fashionable, practical styles on the market. This colour block suit boasts UV-resistant fabric and a secure shoulder tie. £175, matchesfashion.com

LU N A B AG Cult Gaia’s bamboo Luna bag is reimagined in a laser-cut acrylic style with a dappled tortoiseshell design. £462, modaoperandi.com

MADISON SUNGLASSES Handcrafted in Jaipur, the hoops of these mother-ofpearl earrings have a unique hammered texture. £210, Sylvia Toledano, matchesfashion.com

G V 3 WA L L E T For her first accessories collection at the helm of Givenchy, Clare Waight Keller has looked to the brand’s heritage: this GV3 wallet is named in homage to Givenchy’s Avenue George V address in Paris. £435, net-a-porter.com

B O DY & H A I R O I L Keep your skin and hair hydrated with Jo Malone London’s new all-purpose oil, which is scented with the brand’s signature Lime, Basil & Mandarin fragrance. £42, jomalone.com

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TROPIC THUNDER PHOTOGRAPHER ALEXANDER BEER S T Y L I S T G R A H A M C R U Z @ A + R C R E AT I V E

Shirt, £285, Paul Smith, paulsmith.com; Vest, £69, BOSS, boss.com; Trousers, £455, Brown square sunglasses, £140, Cerruti 1881, cerruti.com; Bracelet, £165, Miansai, miansai.com; Loafers, £695, Jimmy Choo, jimmychoo.com

THIS PAGE Shirt, £640, Prada, mrporter.com; T-shirt, £120, Sandro Paris, uk.sandro-paris.com; Trousers, £430, Stella McCartney, stellamccartney.com; Loafers, £765, Christian Louboutin, 35 Dover Street, W1S; Straw boater, £125, DAKS, 10 Old Bond Street, W1S; Flask, £150, Saira Hunjan for Ettinger, ettinger.co.uk OPPOSITE PAGE Blazer, £880, Stella McCartney, stellamccartney.com; Shirt, £420, DSquared2, dsquared2.com; Trousers, £165, DAKS, 10 Old Bond Street, W1S

THIS PAGE Blazer, £545, Paul Smith, paulsmith.com; Shirt, £465, Off-White, mrporter.com; Trousers, £225, Chester Barrie, chesterbarrie.co.uk; Loafers, £340, Church’s, church-footwear.com OPPOSITE PAGE Shirt, £870, Gucci, mrporter.com; Trousers, £860, Cerruti 1881, cerruti.com; Loafers, £640, Giuseppe Zanotti, 46 Conduit Street, W1S, giuseppezanotti.com; Sunglasses, £425, Kirk Originals, kirkoriginals.com

THIS PAGE Jacket, from £1,200, Gieves & Hawkes, 1 Savile Row, W1S; Shirt, £175, AMI, amiparis.com; Trousers, £210, Corneliani, corneliani.cm; Sandals, £119, Oliver Sweeney, oliversweeney.com; Sunglasses, £595, E.B. Meyrowitz, ebmeyrowitz.co.uk OPPOSITE PAGE Blazer, £575, BOSS, boss.com; Shirt, £165, Sandro Paris, uk.sandro-paris.com; Trousers, £175, New & Lingwood, newandlingwood.com; Sandals, £285, Church’s, church-footwear.com

MODEL Sam Way @ Models 1 LOCATION Amanwell Resort, Sri Lanka, aman.com

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F U C H S I A LEE SUNGLASSES The handcrafted Pierre Hardy X Hervé Domar Lee frames call on the retro glamour of 1940s Hollywood and are modelled on American writer Norman Mailer. Pick up a pair in cream, navy, black, tortoiseshell or orange. €395, hervedomar.com

CAMO SWIM SHORTS An exclusive collaboration with The Rake magazine, Vilebrequin’s original 1970s Moorea shorts are updated in an olive green camo print. £200, therake.com Y- 3 B A C K PA C K Printed with Y-3’s logo and embroidered with designer Yohji Yamamoto’s signature, this backpack is made from faux leather and features a padded back and adjustable straps. £250, mrporter.com

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M AT T C A P Acne Studio’s 100 per cent nylon cap features a subtle nod to the brand – a smiley face logo stamped on the front. £48, acnestudios.com

SUPEROCEAN H E R I TA G E I I This Breitling B01 Chronograph 44 is powered by the brand’s in-house Manufacture Calibre 01 and boasts a 70-hour power reserve. £6,050, breitling.com F E L I X P O LO Earn your stripes with Orlebar Brown’s pink piqué polo. Lightweight and made from 100 per cent cotton, it can be teamed with all manner of shorts for an easy summer look. £85, orlebarbrown.co.uk

MANICURE SET This Czech & Speake leatherbound manicure set contains a selection of clippers, cuticle tools and a nail file. £375, mrporter.com

ARIZONA S A N DA L S Rick Owens has given Birkenstock’s signature Arizona sandals a slick update, redesigning the summer shoe in a glossy black leather, complete with comfortable rubber soles and contoured foot beds. £245, mrporter.com

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G U C C I L O G O T- S H I R T There’s nothing subtle about this Gucci Tee – oversized, distressed and neon pink, it is the ultimate way to show your love for the brand. £320, gucci.com

D R I V E

H O T H AT C H E S , H Y P E R C A R S & S U P E R S U V S

P.72 BEST OF BRITISH Behind the scenes at Morgan Motor Company

P.76 PORSCHE PANAMERA Performance meets practicality

The 2018 Le Mans Classic, sponsored by Richard Mille, became the most well-attended weekend in the event’s history. More than 135,000 spectators watched over 700 cars compete. © FRANCOIS FLAMAND

WHEELS OF FORTUNE A S T H E L A S T F A M I LY - O W N E D B R I T I S H A U T O M O T I V E M A N U F A C T U R E R , M O R G A N M OTO R CO M PA N Y H AS LO N G B E E N T H E C H A M P I O N O F T R A D I T I O N A L H A N D - B U I LT C A R S . A V I S I T T O I T S M A LV E R N - B A S E D FA C TO R Y R E V E A L S T H E S E C R E T S O F S U C C E S S U N D E R N E AT H E A C H B O N N E T

Words: Hugh Francis Anderson

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t’s a warm summer’s day and, as I make my way towards the workshop in the distance, a light breeze brings with it the scent of leather and wood; the air is alive with the burble of revving engines and clattering tools, and through the open shutters I can see the curvature of an aluminium chassis. I’m walking along Pickersleigh Road, Malvern, Worcestershire, the home, since 1913, of Morgan Motor Company. Today, the business remains family-owned, its 200-or-so employees manufacturing between 800 and 1,000 cars each year.

The Morgan story began in 1905, when engineer and former Great Western Railway employee, Henry Frederick Stanley, opened a garage and dealership in Malvern Link to tend to the needs of the bourgeoning automobile market. By 1909, Stanley had produced his first automobile, the famous Morgan Three-Wheeler, by installing a motorcycle engine with a simple transmission into a vehicle with two front- and one rear-wheel. The Three-Wheeler is still in production today.

Morgan introduced its first four-wheel car, the 4-4, in 1936. A simple ash-framed, steel-panelled racing car, the 4-4 was designed with durability and lightness in mind, and, along with six other models, including an all-electric Three-Wheeler, it too remains on the production line today.

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THE RANGE

As I make my way into the workshops with company MD, Steve Morris, he tells me more about the production process. “Our three core materials are ash-wood, aluminium and leather, and our three most celebrated craftsmanship methods involve all of these materials.” These methods, which come to life in the surrounding wood shop, tin shop and trim shop, remain little changed from a time when cars were a rarity.

Yet it’s not all glassy-eyed nostalgia: “The production of Morgan cars has continually evolved and improved over the years,” says Morris. “Craftsmanship remains at the heart of everything we do, but we are increasingly introducing technology to both our production methods and the vehicles themselves. A more efficient production line means that we are able to build more cars and react faster to demand spikes.” While aluminium panels and chassis are now laser-cut, and electrical systems having been added, each car’s ash frame, interior finishing and exterior detailing remain crafted by hand.

We enter the chassis shop, where every vehicle’s life begins. Here, the engine, gearbox and electrics are installed into a lightweight aluminium frame before it is moved into the wood-shop. Adhering to traditional coachbuilding techniques, ash wood still forms the structure to which the hand-beaten aluminium body must be affixed. Through a process of manipulation using steam and wooden jigs, each frame is entirely formed and assembled by hand. “Ash has been used in Morgan production for over 80 years and it’s a tradition we are very proud to continue,” says Morris. “Our use of ash is not purely romantic.

Ash has good properties; it’s lightweight, easy to work with, grows very straight and provides

THE 3 WHEELER

T H E 4 /4

AERO GT

The power train in the Threewheeler is a 1983cc ‘V-twin’ fuel injected engine mated to a Mazda 5 speed (and reverse) gearbox, providing smooth ‘get in and drive’ convenience.

Having been in production since 1936, this car is the longest running production vehicle in the world. The Morgan 4/4’s skinny tyres and light weight make it a popular entry-level sports car.

The Morgan Aero GT marks the end of production of the Aero 8. Each Aero GT will be built as an individual, special edition by the Morgan Special Projects department, with focus on driving dynamics and performance.

TOP SPEED: 115mph (185kph)

TOP SPEED: 115mph (185kph)

TOP SPEED: NA

PRICE: £32,905 (+ VAT & OTR)

PRICE: £33,505 (+ VAT & OTR)

PRICE: £120,000 (+ VAT & OTR)

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the perfect basis for the frame to which we can apply the aluminium body panels.” As every ash frame is different, it’s the task of the craftsmen and women to hand-beat, roll and create louvres so that the bodywork fits the frame perfectly.

In the trim shop, every Morgan requires a minimum of four leather hides. It takes more than 30 hours to upholster and trim each car. Says Morris: “skilled leather trimmers use specialist tools to mark, score and trim the hides, before intricately fitting each piece into the cockpit.

Finally, each vehicle is hand-painted onsite. Colours are not limited to a stock range of paints; customers can choose any colour or shade they desire. I’m told that Morgan can colour match anything from a teacup to a jumper, so the colour scheme is limitless; a rather rare service – Rolls-Royce and Bentely notwithstanding – in the modern automotive industry.

As a family-run business, Morgan also maintains a level of intimacy that places the employees themselves at the core of everything the business does.

“The fact that Morgan is family owned and independent is intrinsic to our long-term success,” says Morris. “Our family atmosphere extends beyond just the actual Morgan family, through to our employees, customers and dealerships. We endeavour to be a very honest and personal company.”

Morgan could diversify, modernise its production processes, install machinery to replace many of its employees, but to do so would detract from everything that the company represents – hand-made cars manufactured the old way in Blighty. Long may it continue.

PLUS 4

PLUS 8

R OA D ST E R

The Morgan Plus 4 has wider wings and tyres than the 4/4, and is the most popular car in the Morgan range. It has black wire wheels, an easy up roof, reclining sports seats and a heated windscreen.

The Morgan Plus 8 50th Anniversary Edition will be limited to just 50 examples. The Plus 8 is one of the lightest V8 passenger cars in the world and is capable of 0-62 mph in 4.5 seconds.

Powered by a 3.7-litre Ford engine, the Morgan V6 Roadster comes with a huge range of standard features, including alloy wheels and power steering. It is the most equipped model in Morgan’s Classic Range.

TOP SPEED: 118mph (189kph)

TOP SPEED: 155mph (249kph)

TOP SPEED: 140mph (225kph)

PRICE: £36,755 (+ VAT & OTR)

PRICE: £107,500 (+VAT & OTR)

PRICE: £45,895 (+VAT & OTR)

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nce upon a time, the only place you’d find ‘Porsche’ and ‘practicality’ in close proximity was in the dictionary. Well ok, only if you had a dictionary that contained brand names... but you know what I mean.

Then along came the Cayenne, the first Porsche capable of clearing a Kensington kerb.

It surmounted the more obdurate obstacle – the collective sensibilities of sports car fans the world over – when it became apparent that Porsche was selling so many, it would allow the manufacturer to continue making 911 GT3s, 918 Spyders and Cayman GT4s well into the future. After a few long years, Porsche made the Cayenne look less like a swollen frog as it settled into its position as the godfather of the luxury SUV. About the same time as the Cayenne was getting plastic surgery, Porsche unveiled the Panamera, and the collected purists sighed deeply once more. Not only was this new model big, heavy and front-engined, it looked like a frog that had been run over. By a Cayenne.

But Porsche was undaunted. Since the launch of the Cayenne in 2002, sales had rocketed; people wanted cars with Porsche badges that could transport entire families, and there was no sign that increasing volume hurt the brand’s reputation. The addition of the Panamera poured fuel on the fire. Porsche now makes more Panameras than 911s, and produces nearly five times as many cars (more than 250,000 in 2017) than it did in 2002, while revenues are up fourfold.

Clearly, to be a Panamera-doubter is to be on the wrong side of history, or at least economics.

When Porsche followed the Cayenne pattern and prettied up the Panamera in 2017 – the biggest difference was sharpening up that bulbous rear – I started to see it in a whole new light. Given the chance to drive one earlier this year, I was actually pretty excited.

I would be sitting behind the wheel of the Panamera 4S Sport Turismo. Those last two words, not that you’d guess, mean this is the even bigger, estate-ier version. To my eye, it’s the most handsome Panamera out there: that lip above the rear window is an essential flourish.

In white, it looked every bit of its 5.05m length, but I can’t deny it had presence. With 19-inch wheels, grey brake callipers and a combination of gloss black and brushed steel detailing, it was proof you can spec a car like this very tastefully – with no carbon fibre in sight.

Same story on the inside. This is, hands-down, the most modern and attractive cabin I can remember sitting in – sorry, Tesla – with copious brushed metal, screens that actually integrate into the dashboard design rather than sit there as if some youth from Halfords has superglued them on, and a pleasing robustness to the general switchgear. Confidence-inspiring stuff like this is what has kept Porsche’s stock sky high – you know you’re in a luxury machine from the off.

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Has bringing out an estate – or shooting brake, if you prefer that title – compromised the other pillar of Porsche’s reputation, though?

Is this now a car for grey-haired pootling; a big Volvo for brand snobs? Can it, for want of a better word, hustle?

Oh yes. In 4S guise, the Panamera Sport Turismo has a 2.9 litre twin-turbo V6 which turns out 440 horsepower and 550 Nm of torque, which gives you a two-tonne car capable of 0-60 in 4.2 seconds and in-gear overtaking from 50-75mph in 2.9 seconds.

We took it on a tour of Kent’s National Trust properties – to show all the Range Rover Sport owners that there is another way – and, while I can’t say I matched those exact figures, the Sport Turismo was never lacking in punch.

It’s an effortless cruiser, dispatching distance with a grunt rather than a roar, bearing four adults and 520 litres of clobber with no fuss.

My strongest criticism would be that despite the legion of acronyms (PASM, PSM, TMP, PAA…) drafted in to manage the ride, the car struggled to remain composed over typical British A- and B-road, hunting between bumps and following the camber. It’s us, not you, Porsche, but this is where a great many Panameras will make their homes.

In the gravel car parks of Scotney and Sissinghurst castles, the Sport Turismo’s tailgate

This is, hands-down, the most modern and attractive cabin I can remember sitting in

PA N A M E R A 4 S SPORT TURISMO ENGINE: 2.9 litre twinturbo V6 MAX. POWER OUTPUT: 324 kW (440 hp) MAX. TORQUE: 550 Nm TOP SPEED: 286 km/h 0–60 MPH: 4.2 seconds COMBINED FUEL CONSUMPTION: 8.3–8.2 l/100 km PRICE: From £93,973

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provided ample seating for pulling on walking boots – and I can’t lie, it felt good to spray a little mud up those white flanks. On the way back, it swallowed bags of logs and barbecue charcoal cavernously, although, contrary to every other impression of practicality, the boot is so lavishly upholstered it felt a sin to subject it to typical estate car duties – it is much more a ‘Louis Vuitton luggage’ kind of environment.

Some have said they can’t understand the Sport Turismo as an alternative to a ‘proper’ fast estate like the RS6, because it’s less spacious, and therefore wouldn’t add the weight and bulk to a standard Panamera. Me, I’m the other way round: if you’re going to have the big, capable Porsche, get the one that can carry that extra suitcase. It’s still fast, looks better, and is a pleasure to spend a long journey in. It’s not cheap, mind; the model I drove tipped the scales at £113,788, but Porsche didn’t quadruple revenues by being shy with the options pricing (£300 for embossed logo headrests; £200 for a heated steering wheel; £500 for tinted rear lights). Given the same money, I’d go GT3 every time, but then my wife and parents would have to walk to our next stately home trip, and we can’t have that, can we?

IS COMMITTING TO AN MBA A GOOD INVESTMENT? W H Y A N E X E C U T I V E M B A F R O M WA R W I C K B U S I N E S S S C H O O L C A N TA K E YO U R C A R E E R , A N D P E R S O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T, U P A G E A R

Words: Carlo Risi

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ehind a laptop, a stack of papers and financial reports, I could barely see the twinkling lights of Beijing from my hotel desk. It was 04:59 local time and my tired eyes were doing a final proof of a finance paper before hitting “submit”. The assignment had come together really well, and just in time for the UK deadline.

That was early morning of 10 August 2016. The day before was my birthday, most of which I’d spent on a flight to Beijing ahead of an emergency three-day summit with a key client.

Between flight and summit was a deadline for a 3,000-word assignment. The next few days went something like this: a 10-hour flight; 10 hours finalising the assignment; two hours sleep; 40 hours of meetings over three days; and back to London, to Warwick Business Schools’s beautiful Shard base three days later to kick off another module.

People often ask me about my experience studying an Executive MBA (EMBA), and I often share that story. “Wow, is it like that all the time? How can you possibly do that?” They

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PROMOTION

reply. While your situation is unlikely to mirror mine exactly, your experience will. The truth is that everyone who studies an EMBA will deal with competing priorities, whether that’s work pressure, heavy travel, or family life.

But in between family commitments, sickness, promotions and job transitions, our cohort is on track for 100 per cent completion, albeit with several six-month graduation deferrals, encouraged by Warwick as life unfolds. People are committed to their decision and invested in the outcome. I completed the two-year EMBA at Warwick Business School, London, graduating with Distinction in July 2018.

Studying on Friday and Saturday every other weekend sounds rough, but entering WBS’s 17th floor Shard base is a reset, whatever the week has held.

If your last memory of education is exercises from a textbook, things have moved on. Think more about reflecting on big business issues, and dissecting them using the perspectives of a talented, global cohort: individuals from big businesses, doctors, surgeons, engineers, strategy consultants, investment bankers, IT specialists and business owners.

Learning and interfacing together continuously on research, assignments, projects and presentations.

Taught by gifted stakeholders from the commercial and academic worlds, drawing on external speakers and panels, and supported by exceptional reading lists and other resources, content delivery is superb. You’ll find areas of interest you weren’t aware of and exercise thinking muscles you didn’t know you had. The MBA magic is the opportunity to experience breadth but specialise in interest. All aimed at developing your strategic perspective of the business world, structured to be directly applicable to you.

WBS pushes you to focus assignments on your workplace, to both apply and generate further learning. The Project & Dissertation allows significant time for the research and development of a business challenge, project or opportunity. I undertook a strategic review of our consulting office in London, as the catalyst for a transformation effort.

It was a highlight, involving much primary research, and a write-up of research and academic insights resulting in a set of firm recommendations.

You hear much about relationship building and networking.

As well as developing strong, enduring friendships, you will build a high-quality network. Earlier this year, I was evaluating an expansion strategy into the Middle East and looking to develop a network of connectors and introducers in Dubai. A note to the cohort WhatsApp group had offers of introductions to 25 or more senior contacts within hours.

Finally, the opportunity to study abroad is fantastic. Short term, by immersing in modules at partner business schools in Silicon Valley, China, India, Mexico or a number of European countries. And longer term, choosing a three-month exchange anywhere in the world. I studied at SDA Bocconi, Milan, joining 30 other global MBA exchange students and

70 Bocconi MBA’s for three months during autumn 2017.

Specialising in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, it was an exceptional development and networking experience.

Seventy per cent of our cohort undertook the EMBA as an accelerator to broad and senior management positions as opposed to functional. The remaining 30 per cent is a mix of entrepreneurial ambition, or immediate industry change.

I have stayed in management consulting, though changed companies – from a mid-market strategy execution firm, to partner of a boutique three-year-old strategy consulting business. With it came strong remuneration upside, and a step-change in responsibility that accompanies a senior leadership role. Both were certainly enabled by the MBA. My CEO mentioned that alongside learning, he prized the discipline of multi-tasking and prioritising effectively between heavy workloads, client responsibilities, global travel and delivering MBA results. All representative of the demands on senior leadership positions, and a strong signal of being effective in that role.

I can’t recommend the EMBA investment and experience enough. It’s an exciting and transformational experience, and a powerful tool to step-change your career. You’ll connect with some great people and opportunities along the way.

For me, it was a deeply personal aspiration, and I loved every second. WBS is a great place to do it; human, ambitious, exceptional quality, supportive and flexible – I wouldn’t have chosen anywhere else. But you have to choose the right place for you. Evaluate fit, people, brand and delivery model. Most importantly, wherever you decide, do it for you and you alone.

Those days in Beijing shine strong and were four of the most exhilarating of my career. They anchor a time of focus and commitment, of grit and pride, and a reminder of what can be done with determination and passion.

For more information, please visit wbs.ac.uk

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WBS London, The Shard

The Warwick MBA in London

Transform yourself with a part-time MBA at The Shard.

Visit our website to register for one of our Open Events.

W wbs.ac.uk/go/canary

For the Change Makers

P.84 WOLFGANG PUCK The candid chef on casual cooking

P.90 BON VIVEUR Sustainable seafood to get hooked on

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Tom Sellers unveils his newand-improved Restaurant Story on Southwarks’ Tooley Street (p.89).

“ D O C O N D U C TO R S S H O U T AT O R C H E S T R A S DURING A PERFORMANCE OF MAHLER?”

T H E H I G H S A N D LOW S O F

WOLFGANG PUCK

H E C H A N G E D T H E WAY A M E R I C A N S C O O K A N D E AT B Y C O M B I N I N G C L A S S I C F R E N C H C U L I N A R Y T E C H N I Q U E S W I T H C A L I F O R N I A N A N D A S I A N I N F L U E N C E S . T H I R T Y- F I V E Y E A R S A F T E R T H E O P E N I N G O F T H E U S R E S TA U R A N T T H AT H E L P E D M A K E H I S N A M E , A U S T R I A N S U P E R - C H E F W O L F G A N G P U C K H O L D S C O U R T AT C U T AT 4 5 PA R K L A N E

Words: James Lawrence

T

he commonly-accepted axiom that chefs ‘hate to cook in their spare time’ is quickly dispelled by Wolfgang Puck. “That’s absolute baloney,” insists the celebrity chef between courses at his London steak restaurant, Cut at 45 Park Lane, which by the way, is exceptional. “Cooking professionally shouldn’t diminish a chef’s love of food – that’s a complete myth.”

But then Puck is no ordinary cook. The inimitable Hollywood media darling, he’s in London to mark the 35th anniversary of the opening of Chinois on Main in Santa Monica. It’s just one of the many legendary venues that this chef-cum-restaurateur has opened during his illustrious career. Tonight he has teamed up with David McIntyre, executive chef at Cut on 45 Park Lane, to present signature dishes from the California eatery’s original 1983 menu.

Yet Puck could have so easily sidestepped a career in gastronomy altogether. Born in the Austrian village of Sankt Veit an der Glan, he describes a childhood fraught with angst and adversity.

“My father was a businessman who disowned his relationship with my mother following an affair,” says Puck. “So I never knew my real father. Moreover, my stepfather was bipolar and was very free with his fists.

Unstable and aggressive, he gave me a template for fatherhood to avoid at all costs.”

Puck attributes his mother’s love of patisserie as one of the building blocks for his eventual foray into gastronomy. “My first real food memory is my mother’s hot chocolate. It was quite an ordeal; milking the cow, skimming the milk, tempering the chocolate – it could take hours,” he laughs. “But it was worth it.”

In his formative years, Puck was offered a job driving freight in Austria, which he admits “was a very tempting career choice at first, as the money was good.” But the allure of food held fast, and eventually Puck managed to secure a position at L’Oustau de Baumanière in Les Bauxde-Provence, located between Montpellier and Marseille.

He subsequently honed his craft at the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco and at Maxim’s restaurant in Paris before moving to the US in 1973, aged 24. The rest, as they say...

Puck now owns more than 25 restaurants across the world and is as renowned for his acting work and celebrity friends as he is for his prowess in the kitchen.

Despite his remarkable achievements, the 68-yearold refuses to sit still. “Retirement is not something one should aspire to,” says Puck. “If you love what you do, keep doing it.” He now fancies himself as an amateur painter – another string to add to his ever-expanding bow.

“Actually, that’s probably my worst feature,” he admits. “I can be quite disorganised because I’m always thinking of new projects, new adventures.” Still, any

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP CRAB AND LOSTER LOUIE; CUT AT 45 PARK LANE; WOLFGANG PUCK AND DANIEL MCINTYRE; STEAK; WOLFGANG PUCK AT THE UNVEILING OF HIS HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME STAR, PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX J. BERLINER

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budding cook would be foolish to turn down his tutelage – Puck apparently deplores the “Gordon Ramsay” style of kitchen management, as he puts it. “Do conductors shout at orchestras during a performance of Mahler?” he asks, rhetorically.

Reminiscing with the man is a delight, largely because, for once, the food, doesn’t necessarily dominate every anecdote – unusual for an interview with a chef. Puck doesn’t covet Michelin stars (despite collecting a few), and rejects over-complicated, molecular cooking.

“If I wanted to open a three-starred [Michelin] restaurant then I’d have to open a restaurant with 25 seats and make a special tasting menu only, and that’s it,” he says. But that’s not the way he likes to do things. Puck prefers more casual menus, with food that’s reflective of the surrounding culture, and he wants his diners to feel at ease.

Casual dining, of course, is very much the flavour of the month in London; chefs, critics, journalists and, indeed, consumers keep insisting that stuffy, whitetablecloth formality is dead. In March 2018, popular City restaurant L’Anima annonced it was closing after 10 years, while brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin announced the closure of their highly-acclaimed Marylebone restaurant Galvin Bistrot de Luxe in January 2018, attributing its demise to rising rents in the capital.

However, it’s not just the premium segment that has been affected; Jamie Oliver’s Barbecoa restaurant in Piccadilly went into administration this year, while Italian chain Prezzo is set to close almost 100 of its outlets.

Yet Cut at 45 Park Lane soldiers on, riding out a severe recession, Brexit, and everything in between since its opening in 2011.

What exactly, then, is the secret to its success? If other restaurants, headlined by celebrity chefs and done-up in multi-million-pound décor, cannot survive, why has this Park Lane hotel restaurant become something of an institution?

“Hospitality,” answers Puck. “We ensure each and every guest is treated with the utmost respect. This is the key aspect of running a restaurant that many chefs and owners ignore,” he says. “People will forgive an indifferent dish or even meal if the service is spot on – which requires excellent staff, and sourcing them presents the hardest challenge.”

A regular visitor to London and to The Fat Duck in Bray, Puck believes that many restaurants rest on their laurels for too long, wilfully ignorant of changes in culinary fashion.

“We’ve changed the concept at Spago [opened in Beverly Hills in 1982] several times, and we plan to refresh the menu and décor at Chinois on Main very soon.”

The rest of our conversation is fairly predictable: his favourite food – “I am totally a duck guy” – his belief that French gastronomy should not be put on such a high pedestal (the room cheers when he opines that London restaurants leave Paris for dust) and his love of family.

Puck married Barbara Lazaroff in 1983 and they had two children together. The couple divorced in 2003. Puck later met designer Gelila Assefa, whom he married in Capri in 2007. He claims his divorce was amicable; Lazaroff continues to play a key role in his career, and has been instrumental in the interior designs of his new restaurants.

Puck’s final anecdote about catering for the legendary annual Oscars after-party finishes our interview on a high note; for many years the party took place at Spago, organised by Irving Paul ‘Swifty’ Lazar, the renowned Hollywood talent agent and dealmaker.

“There was never enough room for everyone at Spago, so in the end I fell out with Swifty as he always wanted to invite more guests than I could handle,” says Puck. “But in the 1990s I started catering at the Oscars venue itself, which was much more practical.”

He counts Sidney Poitier among his closest friends, and apparently has a soft spot for Halle Berry. “Just don’t tell my wife,” he says, with a wry smile.

Not that all Oscars parties were plain sailing. Puck describes preparing black truffle risotto for 1,600 people (from a temporary outdoor kitchen) in 2001,

“That’s as close as I’ve ever come to having a breakdown. We had to cook the risotto on aluminum foil in the ovens as the gas stoves were kaput” only for extreme weather conditions to extinguish the gas fires. “That’s as close as I’ve ever come to having a breakdown,” he laughs. “We had to cook the risotto on aluminum foil in the ovens as the gas stoves were kaput.”

The following year, Puck insisted they build a proper kitchen away from the elements. All was fine, until a power failure knocked out both the gas and electricity supply.

“What the hell could we do with 200 raw racks of lamb – halal shish kebab?” In the end, though, most Oscars parties went without a hitch, and to this day he believes they’ve been some of the most rewarding moments of his career.

Puck exudes a quality not always associated with high-profile chefs: relaxed charisma. Indeed, one feels that even the most hardened of critics would forgive a culinary misstep at one of his restaurants, if the chef himself was there to smooth things over. I’m reminded of the late A.A. Gill’s quote about Gordon Ramsay: “A wonderful chef, just a really second-rate human being.”

Wolfgang Puck may not boast Ramsay’s 16 Michelin stars, but he’s clearly a first-rate chef and a rather superior human being.

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REVIEW

R E S TA U R A N T STORY T O M S E L L E R S ’ M I C H E L I N - S TA R R E D T O O L E Y S T R E E T D I N E R R E O P E N S W I T H M U S I C B Y R U D I M E N TA L

Words: Richard Brown

A

few years ago, I was lucky enough to dine at Andrea’s, a pan-Asian eatery nestled in a ground-floor corner of Las Vegas’s smartest hotel, Encore. Having recently hosted Kate Upton and Emily Ratajkowski, as well Nick Jonas, Elijah Wood and George Clooney, it was the hottest restaurant in town.

There was nothing particularly special about the setting (the boundary of a casino), the décor (more faux-70s chic than spectacular), or the food (sillymoney sushi and Wagyu steak, mostly). What made the restaurant a magnet for celebrities was that it had sex appeal – and it was sexy because of the music.

Andrea’s had named Steve Angello, the exSwedish House Mafia mega-DJ, as its ‘musical head chef’. Dishes arrived to a nuanced playlist that rolled from Little Richard to Aretha Franklin to Bruno Mars.

The set revved up as the night unravelled.

Angelo had it nailed. Andrea’s had vibe.

I’d always wondered why the concept had never caught on. So too, it turns out, had Tom Sellers, the tattooed, topknotted working-class lad turned rockstar-

chef behind Restaurant Story in Tooley Street. He’s recently weaponised his newly-refurbed venue with a playlist curated by drum and bass quartet Rudimental. Rock on.

Sellers asked 14 of his celebrity chef chums – including Jason Atherton, Gordon Ramsey, Bjorn Frantzen, Angela Hartnett and Clare Smyth – to provide three songs that inspire them. His DJ mates – he’s tight with Professor Green and Tinie Tempah, too – then arranged the tracks into a set that swings from Eminem and Jamie T to David Bowie and Elton John via Massive Attack, the Rolling Stones, Counting Crows and Kings of Leon, among others.

Sellers was just 26 when he originally opened Story in 2013. He was awarded a Michelin star only five months later. The restaurant occupies a rather odd ground-floor site in the fork of a junction just off Tower Bridge. This year, it has been updated with contemporary art, a beautiful ceiling installation and the return of tablecloths, presumably considered too bourgeois previously. A floor-to-ceiling glass front sits you in a gold-fish bowl. Routemasters bear down on you just metres away.

Despite the punchy playlist, Story remains an intimate, food-lovers’ restaurant. Don’t expect a full-on party nightspot á la MNKY HSE or Sumosan Twiga; this place has more class.

For lunch, you can opt for five courses for £50 or eight courses for £100. For dinner, it’s £125 for 10 courses, or £145 for 12. Dishes are a mix of Story classics – Oreo-like cookies filled with smoked eel mousse, and beef-fat candles served with bread – alongside new, seasonal creations such as platinum caviar and golden beetroot, or monkfish with champagne and sea herbs.

Heavily deconstructed, Instagramable wow food is as impressive to look at as it is to eat – occasionally, even more so. The tracks work their magic, elevating the food and adding an extra dimension to the evening. If music be the food of love, DJ Sellers please play on.

199 Tooley Street, E1, restaurantstory.co.uk

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A NEW BREED OF SEAFOOD SEAFOOD IS ON THE CREST OF A WAV E – W I T H S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y T H E C AT C H O F T H E D AY

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t Neptune in Bloomsbury’s Principal Hotel, there’s an almost imperceptible groan as the server schleps the seafood platter from kitchen to table. It’s barely audible, I wonder for a second whether it’s the tray buckling under the weight of ice and shellfish or salivary glands kicking into overdrive.

The chilled bounty is easy on the eyes. Bug-eyed carmine crayfish peer out beyond pink-hued carapaces of spider crabs and langoustines. Little glass pots are laden with mackerel escabeche and trout tartare. Thin, opaline discs of scallop carpaccio are fanned out on the shell, while plump Morecambe Bay and wild Blackwater oysters luxuriate in their own brine. It occurs to me as they course a journey down my throat that perhaps it was the oysters that made the groan, a last gasp of sentience ahead of their descent down the oesophagus.

The seafood platter isn’t the first dish you’d put forward when it comes to innovation. It is common

NEPTUNE, PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAROL SACHS

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT DINERS AT BRAT; OYSTERS; FISH AT BRAT; BURNT CHEESECAKE AND RHUBARB; FISH; STOVE; ALL COURTESY OF BRAT

knowledge that shellfish should be left unadorned so that the flavour of the sea comes through clear and uninterrupted. The less messing around with the fish during the cooking process, the more you can taste and appreciate the natural flavours.

Brett Redman, Neptune’s head chef, however, is not the type of cook to sit on his hands. Deep consideration has gone into how to improve certain dishes. He lets the flavours of the produce do the heavy lifting on the seafood platter but distinguishes it with a unique array of garnishes, including house-made hot sauce, dashi vinegar and aguachile. “We don’t just serve every piece of fish steamed with a choice of lemon, Tabasco and pepper,” Redman remarks. “We do a trout tartare with a spice mixture of what you’d put in rye bread – cloves, pepper, coriander seeds, nutmeg.”

A few dishes bend the mind. Homemade kombu caviar is created with a jelly of agar agar, dried Japanese kombu and fresh Cornish kombu seasoned with white soy sauce. The jelly is gently warmed and then immersed in ice-cold oil to form caviar-shaped droplets. Lemon peel is blanched and blended into a puree then mixed through crème fraiche and hung until thick. Taken together on a perfectly crisp platform of fried potato, the combination is on a par with sturgeon roe caviar.

The seafood platter isn’t the first dish you’d put forward when it comes to innovation

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Man-about-town, Innerplace’s Nick Savage, gives you the insider lowdown on London’s most hedonistic haunts

Innerplace is London’s personal lifestyle concierge. Membership provides complimentary access to the finest nightclubs, the best restaurants and top private members’ clubs.

Innerplace also offers priority bookings, updates on the latest openings and hosts its own regular parties. Membership starts from £75 a month, innerplace.co.uk

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Behind a discreetly marked door at the junction of Redchurch Street and Shoreditch High Street you’ll find Brat, Tomos Parry’s first solo restaurant, which has become one of the definitive launches of 2018. Named after the colloquial old English word for ‘turbot’, the curiouslymonikered restaurant takes a novel approach to cooking seafood.

“Because we cook exclusively over fire and wood, preparation can be different to other restaurants,” says Parry. “At Brat, one of the dishes is a whole turbot, slowly grilled in a fish cage, so the way we handle the seafood can be unique; cooking over fire is a volatile and variable method, you have to attend to it from beginning to end, but when executed correctly, the outcome is fantastic.” The approach certainly seems to be working.

Brat is awash with critical plaudits and reservations are hard to come by.

Westerns Laundry has been a wildly popular seafood venture since it launched in 2017. Chef David Gingell wanted to create a modern take on a seafood restaurant, one with a relaxed ambience serving high-quality food sans fuss. He holds that Londoners would rather dine in a considered environment than a chain and that the crux of running a competitive seafood joint in the capital is procuring the freshest ingredients and preparing them simply.

Londoners would rather dine in a considered environment than a chain

FROM TOP WESTERN LAUNDRY; CALÇOTS; CUTTLEFISH; LANGOUSTINES WITH MARIE ROSE SAUCE; WESTERN LAUNDRY; ALL PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICIA NIVEN

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“Rather than batch-buying pre-prepared fish,” says Gingell, “we like to buy our seafood whole, so we take care of it from start to finish. It’s high in quality, travels well and it’s great for our kitchen to spend time mongering the whole fish.” Gingell sources his seafood from independent suppliers in Cornwall, opting to pay more for day-boat fish than catches of lesser quality.

Provenance seems to the common denominator that defines this new wave of seafood restaurant. “Using what’s available determines whether we’re sustainable,” Redman explains. “If you’re forced into using commodity fish like farmed salmon, seabass and sea bream, you’re creating a separate market. We only buy fish and shellfish from reputable suppliers who are working the seas themselves. They’re family operators who need to manage the stocks and make sure that their business is sustainable for generations to come.”

As Tomos Parry sees it: “The most important thing for us is the quality of our fish, and the best quality fish will always come from sustainable organic producers. Sourcing fish from sustainable sources, caught using day-boats, will always result in a higher-quality product.”

While they share this concern with many of the established seafood restaurants you’ll find across Mayfair, their innovative approach to preparation marks them out as a whole new kettle of fish.

TO READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT www.luxurylondon.co.uk TO READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT TO READwww.luxurylondon.co.uk MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS VISIT www.luxurylondon.co.uk

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ITALY SPECIAL

P.102 VENICE From 16 th-century palace to 21st-century boutique bolthole

P.106 TUSCANY A home fit for a king

P.113 CAMPANIA A roadtrip around Amalfi, Capri and Sorrento

P.118 PUGLIA House hunting in the heel of the Apennine Peninsula

ESCAPE TO ST R I V E , TO S E E K , TO F I N D. . .

A majestic monastery-turnedhotel, Monastero Santa Rosa, is the best place to take in the Amalfi Coast (p.113)

L A D O L C E V I TA THE LATEST IN LUXURY TRAVEL FROM IL BEL PAESE Words: Ellen Millard

VENICE PALATIAL PLATES Aman Venice’s executive chef Dario Ossola (above left), along with creative consultant Davide Oldani (right), has launched Arva, a fine dining restaurant that uses ingredients almost exclusively sourced from local farmers and fishermen. The elements may be simple but the results are emphatic, with even the humblest of Italian plates – cappelletti, gnocchi, spaghetti – elevated to delicate, nuanced dishes. Set in a 16thcentury palazzo on Venice’s Grand Canal, Arva occupies one of the world’s grandest dining rooms – in the enchanting hotel where George wed Amal. aman.com

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PUGLIA GOING UNDERGROUND

S I C I LY READY, STEADY, COOK Chef whites at the ready – The Thinking Traveller is offering a seven-day cookery course at Rocca delle Tre Contrade, where guests will discover Sicilian

ingredients and traditional Italian cooking techniques. Merlin LabronJohnson, the budding Brit cook who earned his first Michelin star aged 24, will lead the course, along with master of wine Isabelle Legeron.

17-24 November, ¤4,250 per person based on two people sharing, thethinkingtraveller.com

VENICE DISCOVER THE CANAL CITY

BY CANDLELIGHT Located steps from St Mark’s Square, Baglioni Hotel Luna has launched the ‘Codega’ experience, named after the professional guides who used to accompany wealthy visitors around the city by lamplight after dark. Guests can now relive the tradition during a one-hour walking tour followed by a gourmet dinner at the hotel’s award-winning Ristorante Canova. ¤360 per couple, including sparkling wine and venetian tasters, baglionihotels.com

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A 16th-century farmhouse set in 60 hectares of olive groves, Masseria Trapana has serene sanctuaries both above and below ground: the property’s former subterranean olive press has been transformed into an underground spa.

Have a facial, massage or reflexology treatment in one of two treatment rooms, before relaxing in the picturesque plunge pool.

From€¤250 per night, trapana.com

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LAKE COMO HEART AND SOLA Live your own Italian dream at Grand Hotel Tremezzo’s new Villa Sola Cabiati, a 16 th-century mansion decorated with original antique furnishings, textiles and Renaissance frescos. Available for private hire, the updated house comes with Bluetooth sound systems, private butler service and a swimming pool – plus its very own private museum floor.

From ¤6,000 per night, three night minimum stay, grandhoteltremezzo.com

S I C I LY HOME RUN Vendura Resort has unveiled the three new villas added to its Sicilian collection, each boasting private pools and space for seven guests.

Close to the towns of Sciacca and Argigento, villas Tilia and Iris benefit from a hotel-meets-home service – guests can expect breakfast served in their villa or at the onsite Buongiorno restaurant, exclusive use of two golf buggies and a 30-minute aromatherapy treatment for two people at the resident Verdura spa.

From ¤1,700 per night, roccofortehotels.com

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PLANE VIEW W H AT I S AT T H E F O R E F R O N T O F A T R AV E L L E R ’ S M I N D W H E N B O O K I N G A H O L I D AY ?

Words: Antoine Medawar, VP MEA at Amadeus

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PROMOTION

W

hile the Middle East remains a region of people who love to travel, a recent study suggests that the search for value plays a decisive role in how today’s travellers research, compare and book their journeys in these countries. The Middle East Consumer Travel Report 2018 — a study co-sponsored

by Amadeus and developed by InsightOut Consultancy — explores searching and planning habits of the region’s travellers in a digital era.

Consumers all want a personalised and fulfilling travel experience, and travel companies need to be able to deliver value throughout that experience. This is where technology in particular will play a crucial role in keeping the Middle East travel sector moving forward.

The Middle East travel market is incredibly diverse when it comes to travel patterns, yet cost is a shared consideration across countries, according to the report. Cost is cited most often by travellers (50 per cent) as the first consideration when selecting their accommodation, ranking it more important than hotel location, classification, or rating. Similarly, almost half of travellers (46 per cent) cite budget as a main factor when choosing flights, more so than airline reputation and even the itinerary. As a result, one in three (33 per cent) travellers today ‘actively search’ for discounts online during the shopping process.

Value is a key driver in travel decisions, but consumers in the Middle East are open to being influenced when searching for their destination. The report found that most travellers now visit a travel site or agency when they are ready to book their trip, not when they are still in the planning stages.

When it comes to booking a trip, more people in the Middle East admit to being influenced by friends, family and colleagues (53 per cent) than by search engines and review sites (47 per cent) or actual travel agents (31 per cent). What’s more, more travellers in the Middle East will compare elements such as flights by themselves online (45 per cent), instead of asking a travel agent to compare similar products and services for them (34 per cent).

The Middle East market is incredibly diverse when it comes to travel patterns Some of the report’s main recommendations are:  Travel sellers need to adopt a consultative approach to packaging clients’ requirements within designated budgets. Travellers understand the value of packages but want the freedom to customise.  Travel sellers should focus on better communications for packages and their value, in order to overcome the negative perception that they are difficult to tailor and just an up-seller of services.  Travel sellers should reconsider traditional channels of influence with a focus on gaining positive endorsements from consumers directly, rather than through paid media or social influencers.  Travel sellers’ marketing campaigns should focus on mobile channels, rather than static offline communications.

By better understanding the key moments of truth throughout the customer journey, the region’s travel industry can shape smarter, more attractive services in a competitive global marketplace.

For more information, please visit amadeus.com

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L A S E R E N I S S I M A’ S LITTLE SECRET H I D D E N I N T H E H E A R T O F V E N I C E , PA L A Z Z O V O L P I , A O N C E D I L A P I D AT E D 1 6 T H - C E N T U R Y PA L A C E , R E O P E N S A S O N E O F T H E C I T Y ’ S M O S T E N C H A N T I N G R E T R E AT S

Words: Richard Brown

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t’s early summer, mid-afternoon, and Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo bursts into life. School’s out and so are the kids. Fast feet slap cool, hard stone.

Children chase pigeons, mothers chase children, boys chase girls who chase boys who chase footballs in the hope of slotting it home between two white marble tombs on the red-brick façade of the Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

A light breeze breathes life into a red and yellow flag bearing the winged lion of St Mark. Beneath a bronze Bartolomeo Colleoni, gondolas float to and fro. An accordionist with a handle-bar moustach pulls and puffs his mellifluous music into the air. Pigeons strut, coffee wafts, church bells toll.

Tumultuous tranquillity.

We’re watching the cut and thrust of Venetian life from the first-floor window of our invisible three-bedroom suite midway along the southern side of this ancient ‘campo’ – Venetian for square. On this spot in 1782, Pope Pius VI commemorated the day of Pentecost.

The basilica opposite houses the tombs of 25 Venetian doges, rulers of the republic from 697–1797. Venice’s history bewitches. Suitably, our hideaway for the weekend is a converted 16th-century palace. As boltholes go, it’s really rather special.

A passion project of husband-and-wife team Anna Covre and Frederic Tubau, founders of award-winning Parisian-based design studio ANNA&FRED, Palazzo Volpi was designed to fill a gap in the market.

“Our aim was to create an accommodation offering that was luxurious and private,” says Covre. “Something contemporary in style, designed using the highest quality materials, which would provide a secluded stay alongside locals in one of the city’s hotspots.”

After a half-hour water taxi from Marco Polo airport, Palazzo Volpi is less than a five-minute walk from the Ospedale ferry terminal. It sits pretty in one of Venice’s most attractive squares, close to Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, yet far enough away from other tourist attractions to draw only the most explorative of visitors.

Down in the square, you’re more likely to lunch with locals than cruise-ship day trippers.

The façade of Palazzo Volpi was immortalised

in 18th-century oil paintings by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi. In the previous century, the property housed the embassy of the Brescia republic; in the century after, the consulate of Argentina.

Anna and Fred inherited a building that had remained untouched for 70 years, it’s sole occupant a lonely preist. The pair reopened the premises as a swanky three-suite hotel in January 2018.

You’ll find it through an unassuming opening next to the no-thrills, toasted-sandwichesdone-really-well Rosa Salva, one of the oldest pasticcerias in Venice. Go there for nourishing breakfasts and coffee al banco (at the bar). Be warned, however, order a latte and you’ll get a glass of milk. Behind a hefty, high-tech security door, a serene, scented vault of soothing creams

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and tasteful furnishings awaits. Brands including Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Viktor&Rolf and Bottega Veneta have all employed Anna and Fred’s services. It is easy to see why.

A curving staircase leads up to the three expansive apartments. The largest is a threebedroom duplex for up to five guests. A lowerground-floor, super-spec kitchen – complete with sparkling water on tap – leads out to a beautiful, tree-lined, terracotta and red-brick courtyard. The two other suites are sprawling one-bedroom apartments with living rooms and kitchens. All come with daily maid service.

A private chef can also be arranged.

Mirrors, lots of them, some disguising TVs, reflect a colour palette of salmon, pink and taupe. Living rooms feature custom-made cotton-linen sofas and silk-velvet chairs. Rugs are from India; glass from France. Bedrooms sport four-poster beds. Light-washed wooden beams are a running theme, as is white marble flooring. All furniture and table-top lights were designed by ANNA&FRED. Everything is available to order. Chic, chic, chic.

Outside this sanctuary of calmness and light, Venice’s labyrinth of lagoons, calles and campi beckon. Take a stroll, get lost, get boozy on Campari spritz and carafes of local plonk. Go al fresco, savour fritole, cicchetti, pizzetta and tramezzini, discover passeggiata, that magical golden hour before sunset when light fades and gossip circles and spreads in pools and whirls, hire a codega, take a river taxi, do pay €80 for a 20-minute gondola and €12 for a coffee in Saint Mark’s Square. Just don’t forget that Venice shuts up shop by 10pm. Bellissima la Serenissima.

Suites at Palazzo Volpi are available through Passepartout Homes, starting from €450 per night, passepartout-homes.com

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Behind a hefty, high-tech security door, a serene, scented vault of soothing creams and tasteful furnishings awaits

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have a new found respect for jockeys.

In the saddle for the first time in 15 years and safe in the knowledge that my chosen steed is the calmest of the bunch, I set off on what promises to be a romantic ride along the Italian coast. The horse, however, has other ideas. Not one metre out of the stable and he’s taken over the directions, charging towards the field of juicy grass he’s no doubt been lusting after from his pen. My feeble kicks go unnoticed and the hour-long pony trek I’ve embarked on quickly becomes more of a battle of strength – a fight he often wins.

There is a positive about my stop-start journey, however: is it gives me time to admire the view. We’re on the outskirts of Castiglione della Pescaia, a coastal town in

AERIAL VIEW OF L’ANDANA

Cypress trees line the mile-long driveway like fluffy green needles the Tuscan region of Maremma. We trek (or shuffle) through fields of dancing buttercups and bright poppies, flanked by a view of the Mediterranean Sea. There are cypress trees, olive groves, vineyards and a beach of flourfine sand; it is Tuscany epitomised. It’s hard to imagine this former marshland as anything other than picturesque, but these rolling hills were once an uninhabitable swamp. Its appearance today it owes much to Leopold II, the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Known as one of the ‘enlightened despots’ of the 1800s, Leopold II authorised the Tuscan constitution in 1848, which paved the way for a marginally free press, removed freedom restrictions imposed by his predecessors – the house of Medici – and introduced a rational taxation system. In between fighting for a more liberal Italy, he called for marshland in the Tuscan area to be drained – including Maremma.

It’s here that he set up his holiday home, a terracotta villa where he and his court would retreat during the blazing summer months.

When I arrive at his former bolthole, now the five-star L’Andana hotel, it’s easy to see why he settled on this particular spot. Cypress trees line the mile-long driveway like fluffy green needles, through which you can catch the odd glimpse of grapevines and the occasional grazing bull.

Beyond that, it’s fields for miles. Apparently peace and quiet were top of Leopold’s agenda.

Centuries later and the Duke’s desire for a quiet life is still very much being fulfilled at L’Andana. The building has been sensitively decorated to match the Italian grandeur once awarded to its original owner, with ornate furniture, trickling lions-head water fountains and grand chandeliers. But it also has something of a country house feel to it; a rustic retreat dancing on the edge of opulence.

GARDENS AT L’ANDANA

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Guests roam around barefoot, eating picnics of burrata and crusty Tuscan bread on the grass and lounging by the outdoor pool. There’s also an indoor pool for rainy days, a sauna and an ESPA spa for post-pony trek massages.

As to be expected from a Tuscan hotel, the food is outstanding. In the villa’s former granary you’ll find La Trattoria Enrico Bartolini, the eponymous ain restaurant headed up by the Tuscan Michelinstarred chef. Bartolini’s contemporary take on Tuscan food is both delicious and daring: fish tartare, prawns served both raw and deep-fried, traditional Tuscan soup and a runny chocolate dessert are among the highlights.

At the more casual La Villa restaurant, chunky spindles of pasta are topped with beef ragout, grilled sea bass is served with fresh broad beans and dessert is an indulgent tiramisu – it is delicious. All of the produce, including the estate’s own olive oil, is grown onsite – on more than one occasion I spot a chef returning to the kitchen with a bowl full of fresh greens. It also boasts its own Acquagiusta winery, where four types of vino are produced – oenophiles can partake in a wine tour and tasting.

Cycle tours and horse riding excursions can also be arranged by the concierge, and there is a golf course nearby should you wish to practise your swing – I, however, find the villa is best used for what it was originally intended: relaxation.

A long weekend goes by all too quickly and I know I’m not the only guest who wishes they could spend their whole summer here. Of all the Duke’s successes, this is perhaps his greatest.

All of the produce is grown onsite, including the estate’s own olive oil

From €440 per night based on two people sharing, including breakfast, +39 0564 944 800, andana.it

FROM TOP DELUXE ROOM AT L’ANDANA; GNOCCI, © ETIENNE GILFILLAN; ESPA SPA; FILLET OF MEDITERRANEAN FISH, © ETIENNE GILFILLAN; LIVING ROOM AT L’ANDANA

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ORIGINAL, LIMITED-EDITION ART DECO POSTERS

Limited to editions of 280, our newly-commissioned Art Deco posters feature glamorous holiday destinations around the world, ski resorts in the Austrian, French and Swiss Alps, and the world’s greatest historic automobiles. Over 100 designs to choose from, all printed on 100% cotton fine art paper, measuring 97 x 65 cms.

Priced at £395 each.

Private commissions are also welcome.

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Our central London gallery

All images and text copyright © Pullman Editions Ltd. 2018

View and buy online at w w w.pullmaneditions.com

CAPRI SUN

A ROAD TRIP ALONG THE PICTURESQUE CAMPANIA COAST IS A V E R I TA B L E F E A S T F O R T H E E Y E S – B U T I T ’ S T H E R E G I O N ’ S C U L I N A R Y O F F E R I N G S T H AT T R U LY W H E T T H E A P P E T I T E

Words: Lily Devan

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taly’s coastal reaches have been beloved for decades, with Amalfi, Capri and the Sorrentine peninsula leading the way for laidback glamour. Timeless, elegant, historic, picturesque – the epitome of la dolce vita.

Little can be achieved without a certain confidence behind the wheel, or better still, a chauffeur who knows that the wisest time to be on the road is in the light of dawn or under cover of darkness. For ultimate relaxation, start by heading to the Amalfi coast to explore its natural wonders and unwind. Next, ramp things up with some archaeological sightseeing in Pompeii and Herculaneum, using Sorrento as a base. All before hopping over to Capri – shopping to the sounds of the sea, and strolling nowhere in particular... but certainly in style.

While little changes between visits, the landscape and lifestyle never fails to charm. This is a Grand Tour that begs to be rediscovered time and again, and the nature of tourism here has given stalwart hoteliers the opportunity to refine another aspect of the region’s allure: luxe exclusivity.

Property is at a premium and plots for new development have long since reached capacity. Since options are relatively limited at the highest end, clear leaders have emerged, whether thanks to a choice location, sharp service, aesthetic appeal or all three.

Evolving at a brisker pace, however, is the restaurant scene. Traditionally, gourmet dining was assumed to mean a staid formula of delicious fresh seafood, a fine olive oil and fantastic mozzarella. Not so today. The standard of haute cuisine appreciated by discerning guests in global cities is being rivalled here. Capri and the peninsula boast more two-Michelinstarred restaurants than Rome, and as many as in Milan.

Yes, Campania’s coast is an enduring classic. But don’t delay – even la dolce vita requires an advance reservation or two.

A M A L F I COAST It’s the hair-raising, windy roads that lure so many to this 50km UNESCO-protected stretch – with cerulean views and the possibility of a run-in with local motorcyclists or tourist coaches adding to the thrill. Le Sirenuse remains the prime spot for a sojourn in Positano, the postcard perfect town where yellow, pink and orange buildings crowd the cliffside.

Le Sirenuse is a place to see and be seen, and aesthetes will never want to leave. Mediterranean minimalism – with more than a touch of homely Campanian chic – characterises the bedrooms, but it’s the public spaces that really present high and (almost) humble glamour.

A patio terrace draped in creeping flowers offers an incomparable view over a lazy breakfast or lunch; cushioned bars come into their own past 10pm; lemon trees and nooks with beautiful mosaic tiling complete the ageless picture at every turn.

Even ashtrays exude

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP POSITANO; LE SIRENUSE; MONASTERO SANTA ROSA; IL REFETTORIO AT MONASTERO SANTA ROSA

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SORRENTO

ceramic charm, a speciality of both the region and the hotel’s own boutique.

For a repast in a dramatic setting, try Il Refettorio at Monastero Santa Rosa, a hotel restaurant half an hour eastwards in Amalfi proper. It gained its first Michelin star in November, aided by a superb seasonal kitchen garden that shines through in mammoth salads and fresh fruit platters. Choose a seat on the indoor-outdoor terrace – this 17th-century monastery is set right on the cliff face.

As a gateway to Capri, Naples, the coast and the ancient histories of Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii and Herculaneum, Sorrento often serves simply as a stopping point – making a reliable place to rest all the more important.

Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria plays its role supremely well: an overwhelming breakfast buffet starts in the wee hours; service is prompt and unobtrusive; weary feet need only find their way to the pool – or smart poolside bar – for sweet relief.

Some may find the interiors dated, but much is a reference to the hotel’s history. Founded in 1834, the Belle Époque lives on here: from frescoed ceilings to ornate carriage clocks. A modern and impressive experience is hidden downstairs: Terrazza Bosquet, a restaurant with a tasting menu that deserves a second Michelin star for creative presentation alone.

Where Excelsior Vittoria shines in being slick, classic and well-established, independent restaurant Pepe Bianco is none of these things – and well worth taking a curious chance on for that reason alone. This newcomer feels like a warm culinary welcome from Sorrentine locals, and it is entirely possible that diners may receive a literal embrace from the chef or maître d’ before leaving. The food is simple and hearty; anything involving tomatoes is a good bet, as they come fresh from Vesuvius. If there’s still a lobster available, snap it up.

From £266 per night, sirenuse.it; monasterosantarosa.com

From €460 per night, exvitt.it; pepebiancosorrento.it

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THIS PAGE, FROM TOP PRINCESS MARGARET SUITE; RESTAURANT VITTORIA; BOTH © GRAND HOTEL EXCELSIOR VITTORIA

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CAPRI

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP PUNTA TRAGARA; MAMMÀ RESTAURANT AT PUNTA TRAGARA; JUNIOR SUITE; VIEW FROM PUNTA TRAGARA

Capri is the most unwavering of all Italy’s coastal destinations. Little needs to change as the years roll by, nor would anyone demand it. On the island’s rockiest outcrop, next to the Faraglioni, sits Punta Tragara – the most secluded stay afforded. The only way to reach the hotel from port is a 15 minute stroll past the Piazzetta and luxury boutiques, down narrow leafy walkways where tourists rarely stumble. The reward: a modern hideaway with 44 design-led rooms (chief among them, a penthouse suite with its own roof space, freestanding glass box shower and circular bed).

Cinematic panoramas are de rigueur in Capri, but this hotel has a mini amphitheatre of its own sort: a pool surrounded by cacti and tiers of cushioned seating, overlooking the sea, yachts and rocks beyond. Perhaps unexpected in this terracotta sanctuary, however, is a gin bar with an array that rivals the finest establishments in London – a pleasant change from endless glasses of spritz and limoncello shots.

As for food, Mammà is Punta Tragara’s sister restaurant, tucked away in the island’s pedestrianised centre. It too holds a Michelin star and excels in contemporary Caprese fare, like vermicelli with sea urchins or mussel-scented rice. But after-dinner ice cream must be found by exploring on foot with a sense of adventure for company.

From €600 per night, hoteltragara.com; ristorantemamma.com

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THE LANESBOROUGH CLUB & SPA, YOUR LOCAL HEALTH AND FITNESS CLUB

Tantalisingly close to you, one of London’s leading, private members’ health clubs. The Lanesborough Club and Spa combines the finest fitness facilities, offering tailored personal training and group exercise classes, with superlative spa and beauty treatments in a modern, elegant take on a traditional private members’ club.

www.lanesboroughclubandspa.com Applications for membership are accepted via email and telephone.

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7333 7064 Email: membership@lanesboroughclubandspa.com LCS-Luxury-London-217x280-May-2018.indd 1

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LUXURY LONDON

F E AT U R E

A PASSION FOR

PUGLIA P R E T T Y T O W N S A N D P I C T U R E S Q U E P O R T S L E N D I T A LY ’ S S U N - B L E AC H E D H E E L A N I N I M I TA B L E C H A R M

Words: Adam Jacot de Boinod

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P

uglia is, of course, famous for its conical-shaped ‘trulli’ – unique dwellings that enjoyed their golden age in the 19th-century and which remain predominantly intact, and in greatest concentration, around the town of Alberobello. Marvellous and endearing though they are, for me the real joy of this region lies in the extraordinary, spacious, whitewashed farmhouses that the locals call ‘masseria’.

I became so enthralled by their delights that I set out on a bicycle borrowed from my hotel to explore more of them locally – house-hunting for fun. After riding for 10 minutes, I came across a ‘for sale’ sign down a sun-dappled lane, overgrown with weeds, which invited me to nose further into a courtyard rife with neglect but rich with promise. The caretaker took me round the property and then popped me into his car to show me other masserias nearby. They all had grand limestone entrances, wide courtyards, copious outhouses and gorgeous steps leading up to the main solid farmhouse; they all had lemon and orange orchards, and vegetable gardens itching to be loved. Here were glimpses of a romantic, bygone era.

As well as its own sun-blessed climate, Puglia has its own unique style of ceramics. There’s a peculiar legend from feudal times regarding the the pupe con i baffi jugs, which portray moustachioed dolls, made in the town of Grottaglie. The story centres around an 18thcentury winemaker from the nearby baroque town of Martina Franca who fell in love with a beautiful girl from Grottaglie and decided to marry her.

Back then, ‘ius primae noctis’ – or ‘right of the first night’ – meant that the lord of the manor had the right to possess any lower-class bride on her wedding night. To prevent his wife being deflowered, the winemaker dressed up as a woman and took her place.

Unfortunately, the man forgot to shave off his moustache, was identified immediately and brought to trial. To escape being beheaded he was ordered to deliver his best wine in flasks representing his camouflage, called ‘pupe’. So he coaxed the local artisans into producing about 700 of these human-shaped vases – which are still made today.

Locorotondo is a lovely town situated on the Murgia ridge, with panoramic views across the Itria valley and a grand Spanish-influenced baroque church. Old men seek shade in

THIS PAGE FROM TOP GROTTA PALAZZESE; A PUPE CON I BAFFI VASE, © MI.TI. / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; ALBEROBELLO

PUGLIA, I TA LY

gardens; old ladies tend flowers in chapels and make ‘orecchiette con le cime di rapa’ – little ear-shaped pasta served with heads of broccoli.

Another must-visit is Polignano a Mare, where lunches are taken al fresco and skippers of small fishing boats pilot their passengers into caves like the one that houses Grotta Palazzese – the much-photographed indooroutdoor restaurant set into the rock face. It’s all ‘trulli’ enchanting.

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E S C A P E I TA LY S P E C I A L

W H E R E T O S TAY

ABOVE MASSERIA LE CARRUBE BELOW MASSERIA SAN DOMENICO

Classic Collection Holidays offers three nights at Masseria San Domenico from £1,199 per person based on two adults sharing, including return flights from London Gatwick and private transfers, classic-collection.co.uk

I stayed first at Masseria Le Carrube. Effortlessly chic, it’s why boutique hotels are often the best. Intimate and personal, the hotel is a true hideaway discreetly signposted down a long route of winding lanes. It’s located in a blissfully peaceful spot and cradled at the base of surrounding mountains, overlooking the Adriatic and a mere six kilometres away from the renaissance city of Ostuni.

There’s a liberating sense of space both inside and out.

Even when the hotel was at full capacity, it felt as though I had the place virtually to myself. The space is enhanced by the charming purity of the limestone flooring. Ranch-style walls line wide courtyards and the lemon trees on the patios keep the senses engaged. Inside, metal and wicker work blend to evoke the farmhouse’s history; the hues are natural and neutral and, refreshingly, no pictures are necessary as it’s all sufficiently picturesque. The interior is very simple, with various nooks and crannies now turned into chill-out areas.

A brave and progressive decision was taken to offer healthy vegetarian-only menus using seasonal vegetables that are locally sourced. Carrube means caroba and its edible pod – called a locust-bean – is offered at breakfast and tastes very much like chocolate. The meals commence with traditional bread baskets comprising frittelle di ceci (chickpea medallions), followed by an assortment of courgette, fennel, artichoke, aubergine, tomatoes and almonds garnished with pecorino, parmigiana or cream cheeses. The local red wines consist of ‘primitivo’ and ‘negro-amaro’ varieties. How wonderful to eat straight from the land.

Alternatively, stay at at Masseria Le Carrube’s sister property, Masseria San Domenico. The rooms here are miniapartments decorated and furnished in the hotel’s signature style, employing traditional, homely ceramics and pictures. The hotel’s amazingly equipped spa boasts treatments – chromotherapy, neomorphose, thermogenesis, algotherapy, aromaceane and pressotherapy – that are all highly restorative and all very balancing.

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ABOVE MASSERIA LE CARRUBE BELOW MASSERIA SAN DOMENICO

NO ONE NEEDS PERSUADING AS TO WHY THEY SERVICE THEIR CAR, YACHT OR PLANE. BUT THERE HASN’T BEEN AN EQUIVALENT FOR THEIR HOME UNTIL BOLD & REEVES

CONVENIENCE. PEACE OF MIND. VALUE. INFO@BOLDANDREEVES.CO.UK | 020 7408 7590 | BOLDANDREEVES.CO.UK

P.124 INSIDER KNOWLEDGE Property news from prime central London

P.130 CHELSEA BARRACKS A new public art project for Belgravia

P.134 STREETS AHEAD The unique homes hitting the market this month

P R O P E R T Y T H E F I N E S T H O M E S I N T H E C A P I TA L

This Kensal Rise house is inspired by Japanese Wabi-Sabi philosophy and J.M.W. Turner’s Interior of an Italian Church (p.134)

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE FROM LUXURY PROPERTY JOURNAL PRIMERESI.COM

FINAL COUNTDOWN PLANS GO IN FOR CHELSEA BARRACKS’ LAST PHASE

Plans for the final phase of one of London’s most anticipated new property developments have gone in to Westminster Council for approval.

Designed by architects Piercy & Company and Squire and Partners “to reflect the traditional Belgravia streetscape”, Phase 6B is the “final chapter” of Qatari Diar’s 12.8-acre Chelsea Barracks scheme. It aims to deliver “a hub for the local community” alongside affordable and care housing.

Proposals comprise 126 extra-care and affordable housing units, a public sports centre, four retail units and a new self-contained NHS medical centre.

These community amenities will be linked to the rest of the development by a network of pedestrian walkways.

The last phase is located along Ebury Bridge Road at the Southern edge of the site – opposite the Ebury Bridge Estate, which Westminster Council very recently agreed to demolish and rebuild with 750 homes.

Chelsea Barracks’ affordable housing contribution is made up of 29 intermediate rent, 42 social rent and 55

senior living homes. The sports centre will run to some 5,000 square metres, incorporating a gym, fitness studios, four badminton courts, a 25-metre pool, a teaching pool, and a number of other health and wellness spaces.

LUXURY LONDON

PROPERTY

SCREEN TIME INDIAN DEVELOPER SWOOPS ON DELANCEY’S SUPER-PRIME KENSINGTON ODEON SCHEME

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK SLOVAKIAN DEVELOPER ROLLS INTO LONDON WITH £400M PRIME RESI PLAY ON THE SOUTH BANK

A “Lodha-affiliated” company has reportedly snapped up the highprofile resi-led Kensington Odeon development on Kensington High Street from Delancey, according to Estates Gazette.

The 1.26 acre site opposite Holland Park and the Design Museum was marketed by Savills and Knight Frank with vacant possession – looking for offers in the region of £80m. Contracts have now been exchanged with an SPV backed by the boss of Lodha Group, Abhishek Lodha.

Squire & Partners-designed plans were eventually approved in February 2016 after fierce local opposition, providing for more than 122,646 sq ft of luxury resi accommodation across 35 apartments (including two five-bed penthouses) and eight houses.

Slovakian-based property developer J&T Real Estate has made its first foray into the London development arena, snapping up a significant prime residential scheme next to Tate Modern from Delancey’s client fund Dv4.

This deal marks another high-profile disposal

by Jamie Ritblat’s Delancey, following the Lodha family’s reported acquisition of The Kensington just a week earlier. J&T operates primarily across Central Eastern Europe, with offices in Bratislava, Moscow and Prague.

The firm’s first site in London, 185 Park Street, is impressive. A former home to the National Grid, it sits at the eastern end of Tate Modern on the South Bank. Planning is already in place for 163 apartments alongside 87,000 square feet of office space, 9,900 of retail, and a 16,600 square foot “cultural facility”; all-in, J&T estimates the scheme to have a GDV of around £400m.

E C O WA R R I O R PORTMAN ESTATE DELIVERS GRADE-II LISTED PASSIVHAUS PROJECT

Portman Estate has launched what’s thought to be the UK’s first Grade-II listed Passivhaus onto the rental market.

This unassuming early 19th-century building on Marylebone’s Gloucester Place Mews is right at the cutting edge of energy efficiency.

Triple-glazed and with walls insulated by the same kind of aerogel “blanket” used in spacecraft engineering, the house keeps itself warm in winter and cool in the summer – so much so that energy bills should come in at around a couple of hundred pounds a year.

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.

www.century21uk.com/nottinghill

nottinghill@century21uk.com

EARLS TERRACE KENSINGTON W8

ÂŁ7,250 per week

5 bedrooms | 3 receptions | 5 bathrooms | garden | communal gardens | swimming pool | 2 parking spaces | porter

An exceptional Grade II listed Georgian five bedroom house of some 4,902 sq ft on exclusive Earls Terrace with a 93 ft south-facing private garden, swimming pool, two parking spaces, use of Edwardes Square communal gardens, by application, air-conditioning throughout and 24-hour security. The property is moments from Holland Park and Kensington High Street. Kensington Gardens, South Kensington and Knightsbridge are within easy reach.

10 Clarendon Road London W11 3AA

020 7229 1414

Building with distinction

New Build Loft conversion Basement Refurbishment Search IMKO Belgravia Email contact@imko.co.uk Call 0207 584 2745

1 5 0 Y E A R S I N T H E M A K I NG

now complete

APARTMENTS FROM £825,000* READY TO MOVE IN TODAY. *Price correct at time of going to press.

V ISIT OU R N E W SHOW A PA R TM E NTS +44 (0)20 7205 2392 | gasholderslondon.co.uk Gasholders, 1 Lewis Cubitt Square, London N1C 4BY Photography by John Sturrock, 2018

LUXURY LONDON

PROPERTY

ART AT TA C K AHEAD OF CHELSEA BARRACKS’ COMPLETION, SCULPTOR CONRAD S H AW C R O S S H A S B E E N C O M M I S S I O N E D TO C R E AT E T H E N E I G H B O U R H O O D ’ S FIRST PUBLIC ARTWORK

T

he first phase of Belgravia’s most anticipated development is due to be revealed in 2019 and with it a nod to the area’s artistic roots.

Sculptor Conrad Shawcross – the youngest living member of the Royal Academy of Arts at 41 – has been commissioned to create a public artwork for Chelsea Barracks, a new neighbourhood in the heart of London that will boast a rare collection of apartments and townhouses.

Located on a former army barracks, the new development will span 12.8 acres. In addition to residential opportunities, there will be an array of amenities, including restaurants, shops, sports facilities, and a state-of-the-art health club and spa. Five acres (40 per cent) of previously concealed land will be opened up to create a public green space.

Shawcross will create the first in a series of designs expected to be unveiled in the area’s seven new garden squares; the inaugural work will sit on Dove Place, on the corner of Chelsea Bridge Road and the design quarter of Pimlico Road.

The sculptor is no stranger to the property world, having created The Optic Cloak for Greenwich Peninsula in 2016. His new design will combine his signature mechanical style with nods to the prestigious London area, most significantly the city’s oldest botanical garden, Chelsea Physic Garden.

“I did some research into the area and one of the key things was horticulture. The awareness of plants and the distinct history were in my mind’s eye; the piece had to be a sculptural yet natural formation,” Shawcross says of his design. “It is very mathematical but has echoes of many things; hopefully, it will have many reminiscences and oscillate between different meanings for differing people.”

“The awareness of plants and the distinct history were in my mind’s eye; the piece had to be sculptural yet natural”

chelseabarracks.com LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

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GIVE YOUR PROPERTY A TRUE GLOBAL EXPOSURE

LIST WITH US THROUGH 115 INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE PORTALS INTO 64 COUNTRIES

4 BEDROOMS | NEW BUILD MEWS HOUSE | BELGRAVIA £7,950,000 | £4,500 pw

7 BEDROOMS | COUNTRY HOUSE | WEST SUSSEX £4,950,000

3 BEDROOMS | ST GEORGE WHARF TOWER | VAUXHALL £4,400,000

4 BEDROOMS | MEWS HOUSE | MAYFAIR £2,275 pw

6 BEDROOMS | MANSION | HOLLYWOOD HILLS $19,500,000

5 BEDROOMS | CENTRAL PARK VIEWS | MANHATTAN $13,995,000

One Mayfair Place, London, W1J 8AJ T: +44 20 7268 4845 www.nestseekers.com timob@nestseekers.com | alexd@nestseekers.com

NEW YORK | HAMPTONS | GOLD COAST, LI | NEW JERSEY | MIAMI | SAN FRANCISCO | BEVERLY HILLS | LONDON | SEOUL Nest Seekers International is a Real Estate broker. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and has been compiled from sources deemed reliable. Though information is believed to be correct, it is presented subject to errors, omissions, changes or withdrawal without notice.

Richmond Court, Knightsbridge Richmond Court is situated between the exclusive designer boutiques of Sloane Street and Harrods. Gastronomic delights can be experienced in the renowned eateries of Knightsbridge and Chelsea and the peaceful greenery of Hyde Park is a short walk away.

Pegasi Management Company Limited 207 Sloane Street London SW1X 9QX E: enquiries@pegasi.co.uk | T: +44 (0)207 245 4500 pegasi.co.uk

STREETS AHEAD DISTINCTIVE HOMES ON THE PROPERTY MARKET THIS MONTH

B E L G R AV I A , S W 1 X

Madonna’s favourite interior designer and Argent Design founder Nicola Fontanella has put her four-storey Belgravia townhouse on the market.

Decorated, as expected, in Fontanella’s signature glitzy style, the space boasts gold hardware and marble floors. £12.85m, 020 8012 4123 (Knight Frank), 020 7408 0007, (Beauchamp Estates)

LUXURY LONDON

PROPERTY

NOTTING HILL, W11

Built in the mid-1800s, the white stuccoed, now Grade-II listed properties that line Notting Hill’s Lansdowne Road have long been coveted. Now a rare opportunity to own a corner house with planning permisssion and listed consent has arisen. The property has been given the green light to recreate a single family home out of two flats. There is also the option of extending the front, adding a rear conservatory and digging a subteranean extension beneath the back garden. All of this, plus off-street parking, three garages and a west-facing garden.

KENSAL RISE, NW10

Inspired by J.M.W Turner’s Interior of an Italian Church and the Japanese philosophy of WabiSabi – the art of imperfection – architect Takero Shimazak has created a minimalistic haven in north west London. The result is the ultimate blank canvas, a simply decorated two-storey house, which mixes the textures and tones of concrete, stone and wood to create a modest yet impressive space.

£12.5m, struttandparker.com

£1.25m, themodernhouse.com

LUXURYLONDON.CO.UK

135

Kings Road, Chelsea SW3 £2,800,000

Leasehold

Burnaby Street, Chelsea SW10 £2,000,000

Freehold

A sensational four-bedroom triplex maisonette arranged over the first, second and third floors.

This stunning three-bedroom upper maisonette has been meticulously refurbished inside and out.

2,250 sq ft (209 sq m) Entrance | Reception/dining room | Kitchen | Master bedroom suite with large dressing area and study | Two further bedrooms (one en suite) | Bathroom | Utility room | Balcony | EPC rating E

1,400 sq ft (130 sq m) Reception room | Dining room | Kitchen | Garden | Master bedroom | En suite | Two further double bedrooms | Bathroom | Terrace

Chelsea SW10 020 3813 9185 | chelseaSW10@struttandparker.com

Chelsea SW10 020 3813 9185 | chelseaSW10@struttandparker.com

Carlyle Court, Chelsea Harbour SW10 £1,750,000 Leasehold

Evelyn Gardens, South Kensington SW7 £1,575,000 Share of Freehold

This three double bedroom lateral apartment has been extensively renovated and is set within the popular Chelsea Harbour development.

A stunning two-bedroom, two bathroom apartment in South Kensington.

1,302 sq ft (121 sq m) Reception room | Kitchen | Master bedroom | Bathroom | Two further bedrooms (one with en suite shower room) | Balcony | EPC rating B

745 sq ft (69 sq m) Reception/dining room | Kitchen | Master bedroom with en suite bathroom | Further bedroom | Further shower room | Balcony | EPC rating C

Chelsea SW10 020 3813 9185 | chelseaSW10@struttandparker.com

Chelsea SW10 020 3813 9185 | chelseaSW10@struttandparker.com

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

struttandparker.com

60 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

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Lansdowne Road, Notting Hill W11 £12,500,000

Freehold

Chepstow Villas, Notting Hill W11 £2,700,000 Share of Freehold

A wonderful Grade II Listed house with communal garden, parking and planning permission to create a sensational five-bedroom family home.

An exceptional lateral three-bedroom penthouse apartment in a highly regarded portered building.

3,586 sq ft (333 sq m) (Consent for approximately 4,484 sq ft/417 sq m) Currently: Four bedrooms | Four reception rooms | Three bathrooms | Three studies | Terrace | Garden | Off street parking | Three garages | Access to communal gardens

1,455 sq ft (135 sq m) Reception room | Kitchen | Dining room | Master bedroom with en suite bathroom | Two bedrooms | Shower room | Lift | Porter | EPC rating E

Notting Hill 020 7221 1111 | nottinghill@struttandparker.com

Notting Hill 020 7221 1111 | nottinghill@struttandparker.com

Hollandgreen Place, Kensington W8 £5,675,000

Campden Hill Court, Kensington W8 £4,950,000 Share of Freehold

Leasehold

An impressive two-bedroom lateral apartment in one of London’s most exclusive new developments.

A very special top floor apartment with fabulous living space, three bedrooms and excellent views.

2,050 sq ft (190.5 sq m) Kitchen | Reception room | Sitting room | Master bedroom suite | Second bedroom suite | Utility area | Cloakroom | Balcony | Concierge | Underground parking space | Lift | EPC rating B

2,471 sq ft (229.6 sq m) Entrance hall | Drawing room | Dining room | Kitchen | Master bedroom with en suite bathroom | Two further bedrooms | Shower room | Utility room | Porter | Lift | EPC rating F

Kensington 020 7938 3666 | kensington@struttandparker.com

Kensington 020 7938 3666 | kensington@struttandparker.com

Strutt & Parker is a trading style of BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory & Property Management UK Limited, which provides a full range of services across the residential, commercial and the rural property sectors.

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Lennox Gardens, Knightsbridge SW1X £5,750,000 Share of Freehold

Lygon Place, Belgravia SW1W £21,500,000

Exceptional family flat in Lennox Gardens, one of the most prestigious addresses in Knightsbridge.

A grand seven-bedroom period townhouse with a lift, underground parking and porterage in Belgravia.

2,512 sq ft (233.4 sq m) Entrance hall | Reception room | Dining room | Kitchen/breakfast room | Four double bedroom suites | Guest cloakroom | Patio garden | Communal gardens | EPC rating D

7,250 sq ft (673.5 sq m) Reception room | Drawing room | Dining room | Master bedroom with en suite bathroom | Six further bedroom suites | Media room/ gym | Guest cloakroom | Lift | Garden | 24hr security | EPC rating E

Knightsbridge 020 3813 9300 | james.forbes@struttandparker.com

Knightsbridge 020 3813 9300 | paul.gransbury@struttandparker.com

Eaton Terrace, Belgravia SW1W £7,500,000

Cadogan Lane, Belgravia SW1X £1,750,000

Freehold

Freehold

Leasehold

A superb five-bedroom freehold townhouse with a large garden, garage and arranged over five floors.

A well presented three-bedroom house with garage and private garden.

3,184 sq ft (295.8 sq m) Two reception rooms | Kitchen | Dining room | Master bedroom suite | Four further bedrooms | Four bathrooms | Study | Wine cellar | Patio | Garden | EPC rating D

1,479 sq ft (137.4 sq m) Entrance hall | Kitchen/dining room | Reception room | Master bedroom suite | Two further double bedrooms | Two further bathrooms | Guest WC | Loft/storage space | Patio garden | Garage | EPC rating D

Knightsbridge 020 3813 9300 | paul.gransbury@struttandparker.com

Knightsbridge 020 3813 9300 | bertie.hare@struttandparker.com

*After an offer is accepted by the Landlord, which is subject to contract and acceptable references, the following charges and fees will be payable before the commencement of the tenancy: Preparation of Tenancy Agreement £222 (Inc VAT),

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

struttandparker.com

60 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

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Eaton Terrace, Belgravia SW1W £6,450,000/£4,800 per week Freehold/Furnished

Laverton Place, South Kensington SW5 £3,550,000 Freehold

An extremely elegant six-bedroom family house.

A stunning three-bedroom house which has been the subject of an extensive renovation.

3,112 sq ft (289.1 sq m) Entrance hall | Drawing room | Dining room | Kitchen/breakfast room | Sitting room | Study | Master bedroom suite | Five further bedrooms | Four further bath/shower rooms | Utility room | Landscaped garden | Terrace

1,658 sq ft (154 sq m) Reception room | Kitchen | Dining room | Media room | Master bedroom suite | Two further bedrooms and bathroom | Wine room | Balcony | Access to Bramham Gardens (by separate negotiation) | EPC rating E

Knightsbridge 020 7235 9959 | knightsbridge@struttandparker.com

Chelsea SW10 020 3813 9185 | chesleaSW10@struttandparker.com

Drayton Gardens, Chelsea SW10 £4,950,000

Hobury Street, Chelsea SW10 £4,350,000

Freehold

Freehold

An elegant and grand Grade II Listed Freehold five-bedroom house situated in this sought after Chelsea address.

A beautifully rebuilt and thoughtfully designed end of terrace, family house.

3,146 sq ft (292.3 sq m) Dining room | Kitchen | Drawing room | Family room | Master bedroom suite | Four further bedrooms | Two shower rooms | Study | Utility room | Garden | EPC rating E

2,405 sq ft (223.4 sq m) Double reception room | Kitchen | Dining room | Master bedroom suite | Three further bedrooms | Family shower room | Study | Cloakroom | Technical room | Utility room | Balcony | Terrace | Garden | EPC rating C

Chelsea SW10 020 3813 9185 | chesleaSW10@struttandparker.com

Chelsea SW10 020 3813 9185 | chesleaSW10@struttandparker.com

References per Tenant £54 (Inc VAT), a deposit – usually between 6-10 weeks of the agreed rent. Any rent advertised is pure rent and does not include any additional services such as council tax, water or utility charges.

Strutt & Parker is a trading style of BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory & Property Management UK Limited, which provides a full range of services across the residential, commercial and the rural property sectors.

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