Vanishing gems of London

[st.tully]

The thread about the future of Budd Shirtmakers started me thinking about the changes that I have seen to some of my favourite London past-times. The demise of the Connaught Hotel and Restaurant, the smoking ban's effect on club life, closure of Monkey's restaurant, Edward Green's move from the arcade, death of Dougie Hayward, retirement of Desmond Sautter are just a few changes from the past twenty years of my familiarity with London.

Let's share some memories of London gems past and more importantly, suggest London gems of today that must be experienced before it is too late!!

I will be in London for a week in April and will give a current update on all the places mentioned in this thread. Perhaps you remember a unique shop or pub from years ago and wonder if it is still there. Tell us bout it and I'll go check it out!!

[storeynicholas]

Depressing to think about the past losses but, on a more hopeful note, check out the Mitre pub off the lower end of Hatton Garden and also St Bride's church off Fleet Street (and note the tower and spire - the model for the traditional bridal cake!). Do, though, try to advise whether that man still goes up and down Oxford Street with the sandwich board telling us that "THE END IS NEAR"
NJS

[DD MacDonald]

No all is well in London.

The venerable travel agents at 72 Picadilly St still have a model Concord resplendent in Air Iran livery.

[storeynicholas]

Anyone have any theories as to why Concord was dumped? The apparent reason does not seem to stack up.
NJS

[couch]

A few surviving favorites that come to mind today . . .

1. Mount Street Gardens:

MtStGardens.jpg

2. The Wolseley, in the off hours:

(Hard to believe it's such a relative newcomer; only opened as a cafe in 2003)

3. Queen Mary's rose garden, Regent's Park:


4. Royal Court Theatre:


5. Shepherds Falkiners Bookbinders and supplies (incorporating Sangorski & Sutcliffe, Zaehnsdorf, and Falkiners Fine Papers)

I remember The Grapes in Limehouse as a delightful local with an airy fried plaice back in the early '80s before the Docklands development. A fellow I knew back then was a young MD of Falkiners Fine Papers and was rehabbing a terrace house around the corner from The Grapes (his back garden adjoined Hawksmoor's St. Anne's) with a County Council grant. It was a dodgy neighborhood then. Last time I stopped at The Grapes, it had slipped considerably and there were Lamborghinis parked on the sidewalks.

On the other hand, there's still Borough Market:


and Roast, the restaurant overlooking the market that recycled some of the Covent Garden ironwork that had been in storage (in Wales, I believe) since the demise of the flower market:


Last time I ate there the food was excellent and the service, as so often, only marginal. One hopes it has improved . . . .

[Man at C&A]

Do, though, try to advise whether that man still goes up and down Oxford Street with the sandwich board telling us that "THE END IS NEAR"
NJS

I can't recall ever seeing that, but the famous sandwich board man was the late Stanley Green with his 'Less Lust from Less Protein'. Sadly he passed away in the early 90's, but then I doubt he would fit the tourist hell that is Oxford Street these days.

[st.tully]

I LOVE Mount Street Gardens!! When I lived in London, a favourite ritual was to buy a sandwich at Serafino and a cigar at Sautter and enjoy both on a bench in the Gardens. Ahh! Great memories are flooding back. These days when I visit London, home base is St. James's, so I more likely to try and enjoy my cigar strolling around St.J's Square. I will make a point of going back to the Gardens next month.

At the Royal Court Theatre, "Wastwater" will be playing - some sort of a modern drama - I'll wait for a review before going.

And I'm loving the sound of the Mitre Pub!
"This oldie (established 1546) is only accessible through a narrow passage – incongruously described as 25m long. Still, the Mitre needs no yard conversion or ‘ye olde’ embellishment to prove its worth. Walk into its venerable, cramped three-room space, see what’s on as the guest ale (Orkney Dark Island on our visit) then settle down amid the portraits of Henry VIII and sundry beruffed luminaries. The taps of Adnams Bitter and Broadside, Deuchars and Guinness will be easier to pick out than the extended history in small type lining the hatch of the bar counter. The handful of wines – Chilean San Rafael merlot, La Serre cabernet sauvignon – are well priced at under £15. There are stand-up tables in the courtyard too."

[tteplitzmd]

Demise of the Connaught Hotel can be quantified now by their $1000 per night minimum (for a room that cannot even fit a room service trolley). I understand that their debt service has been tangled up with Irish banking regulations, but the prices now commanded seem unrealistic. Of course there is the decline in attention, service, and skill, of hotel staff even at 5 star levels. Coinciding with the decline in service is the decline in the sophistication of the guests. I do miss the old days of the Connaught, and maestro Paolo Zago. He would run with the assaultive "cross branding" and marketing they subject guests to. Only the location remains superb.

[storeynicholas]

On the hotel front, one lost gem was the great, full length portrait of Rosa Lewis, at the height of her powers, that used to grace the staircase of the 'new' Cavendish Hotel; presumably, it had been given to the first owners of the new building on the implicit understanding that it would remain there. A recent owner (some faceless corporation) sold it at auction but commissioned some pathetic modern effort as a miniature repro which hangs in the Rosa Lewis suite. Thankfully, though, she has her commemorative plaque outside at the Jermyn Street entrance, which is worth a glance as you pass.
NJS

[couch]

Of course there is the decline in attention, service, and skill, of hotel staff even at 5 star levels. Coinciding with the decline in service is the decline in the sophistication of the guests. I do miss the old days of the Connaught, and maestro Paolo Zago. He would run with the assaultive "cross branding" and marketing they subject guests to. Only the location remains superb.

Terry, while I never had the chance to experience the Connaught service under Zago, and I envy you that experience, as of summer before last it was still true that their afternoon tea in the gallery (Espelette, I think they call it now) was the best I've had in London, followed closely by Claridge's. I'll be trying it again in June, along with that at the Savoy, which was still closed when I was last in town, so I will see if it's slipped. Of course, it may be the best of a diminished lot, but credit should still be given where earned for relative excellence . . . . The location, as you say, does contribute to the experience, but the baked-to-order scones and the quality of the sandwiches, preserves, and the tea itself (well served, when I was there), also makes a difference.

[tteplitzmd]

Espellette is good. The overall ambiance in the hotel is rather stiff and corporate, by poorly trained staff. The restaurant service is quite good though, although compared to the Zago days the restaurant service is amateurish. In the Zago era the restaurant staff functioned like a well choreographed ballet.

[storeynicholas]

The days of silent, silver service have long gone. I recall the very old staff in the Grill Room of the Cafe Royal in the 1980s; there was one who looked as though he might have been a resurrected and relocated Steffany from the Edwardian Cavendish, and, if one actually spoke to them, apart from ordering food and drink, they looked quite startled but if you drew them out, they remembered then recent ghosts of the place, such as Henry Moore, "who used to sit at this very table".

Now, of course, the Cafe Royal is another lost gem, even if the facade and the public rooms are listed and to be preserved in a temporary tomb, that the wretched Crown Estate Commissioners are erecting as part of their recent spate of vandalism in the area. The trouble is that there is no control over these characters and we might well ask "who guards the guardians themselves?"

[tteplitzmd]

I think I commented on the silence of the hotel/bar/restaurant transaction years ago on this forum. Mr. Storey is correct that it was possible to dine or drink (at the Connaught) without an "exchange" of discussion with the staff. I've felt that the quality of a hotel bar or restaurant can be judged by the chance of eating or drinking without having to elicit a single word from the staff. Not as offensive as it may sound. It inspires confidence in fact. (cf. "hi I'm Jack the Ripper and I'll be your server tonight...")

[couch]

It's been four or five years now, but the closest to this kind of service I recall was at the old Pétrus at the Berkeley under head chef Marcus Wareing. The best service I've ever had (except perhaps at Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia in the early '90s, where the silver cloches keeping each plate warm en route to table were lifted in unpretentious unison at each place--a disciplined ballet, as Dr. T aptly says). Silent but alert. When a server was approached with a question (identifying unfamiliar cheeses on the cart, for instance) the response was warm, quiet, and concise. Conversation with my companion flowed uninterrupted throughout a long evening; every course and refilled glass appeared soundlessly, and almost invisibly in the natural pauses. A somewhat overexuberant and definitely overserved couple across the room was handled with aplomb and discretion so that they did not disturb the other diners. Set the standard for us for London service. Has anyone eaten there now that it's under Wareing's own name?

[storeynicholas]

Maybe, on reflection, I was precipitate in saying that silent silver service has completely disappeared: Crockford's and Wilton's, the last time that I was in either of them, certainly still practised it; including the removing of the cloches in unison: disclosing a feast for the eyes, as well as the mouth. The London clubs tend to be a little rushed, clumsy and schools' dinnersy. The last thing that a diner should have to deal with; either during an evening, romantic tryst or a business lunch, is an inquiry whether "everything is all right?" - because they should have made sure that it was before they brought it. We are not truly guests in restaurants, we are customers. The thing is that over ebullient solicitation has become a part of general marketing strategy nearly everywhere.