No.4 Princelet Street in Spitalfields is nearly 300 years old
Number 4 Princelet Street is probably the most Instagrammed house in Spitalfields. With its bold pinkish red colour, its shabby façade and charming shutters, it’s proved the perfect backdrop for many a photoshoot – both professional and candid. Today, the building isn’t a home, but is rented out for events or filming locations. However, like many other Georgian terraces in E1, No.4 has an interesting history.
In the early 18th century, the area we now know today as Spitalfields was the edge of London – with fields spreading out east just beyond Brick Lane. The area had been a hub for industry since the 15th century when it was known for brick and tile manufacturing. Over a century later, a young man named Joseph Truman Senior (d.1719) joined the William Bucknall’s brewery near Brick Lane around 1666. Thirteen years later, entrepreneurial Joseph acquired the brewery’s lease following the death of Bucknall. Throughout the 17th and 18th century, the Truman family rapidly grew the Black Eagle Brewery, later known as the Truman Brewery (but more on the Trumans later).
With London’s population rapidly expanding in the early 18th century, housing development on the city’s fringes continued at pace. Two London lawyers Charles Wood and Simon Michell started developing the roads known today as Fournier Street (aka Church St), Wilkes Street (aka Wood St) and Princelet Street between 1718 and 1728. When the latter was built, it was known as ‘Princesse Street’ or ‘Princes Street’. It appears to have renamed Princelet Street in the 1890s. Wood and Michell leased the land to master builders, who built terraces of townhouses for both sale and lease. Although these houses are expensive and sought-after today, at the time they were aimed towards working Londoners and migrants, particularly the Huguenots, who had been fleeing religious persecution in France in waves since the 1680s.
No.4 has a wider frontage than some of the other houses
When it was built in 1723, No.4 Princelet Street was actually numbered No.2 Princes Street. Together with No.1 Princes Street (now No.2 Princelet Street), the pair were the last houses to be built on the road. Wood and Michell had granted local carpenter and builder Samuel Worrall 99 year leases to erect the two terraces, as well as No.6 Wilkes Street around the corner. In June 1724, Worrall leased 1 Princes Street and 6 Wilkes Street to a glover for £756 per annum.
Back to the Truman family, whose business was booming in the early 18th century. Joseph Snr’s grandson Sir Benjamin Truman (1699-1780) had joined the family-run Black Eagle brewery and it was under his watch the business saw rapid expansion, becoming one of the biggest breweries in London. He supplied beer to the Prince of Wales and was later knighted by King George III (1738-1820). Benjamin moved into 2 Princes Street in 1724, which was a perfect location due to its close proximity to the brewery. Four years later, Benjamin would have a next door neighbour in textile designer Anna Maria Garthwaite (1688-1763), who moved to 1 Princes Street in 1728 with her sister Mary. Today, a blue plaque commemorates Anna’s residency at the house. Read the rest of this entry
Sit on the iconic orange sofa in Central Perk at FriendsFestive
You may have noticed in the media in recent months that 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the TV show Friends. Although I was an original fan back in the 1990s, a whole new younger audience have come to love the show thanks to Netflix and Comedy Central. This Christmas season, the sell-out FriendsFest is back in London with a festive twist. Hosted by ComedyCentral UK, FriendsFestive gives fans of the show a chance to hang out on the sets, see authentic props and costumers from the show, and pose for photos and videos as you recreate memorable scenes.
Ring a bell at Phoebe’s festive stand
I had previously visited the first FriendsFest back in 2015 and was fortunate enough to meet actor James Michael Tyler, who played Gunther. The original FriendsFest was a much smaller affair with only one proper set and I had seen through friends’ social media photos that subsequent Friendsfests had got bigger and better. FriendsFestive differs from the others because it offers a twist on the theme with many references from Thanksgiving and Christmas episodes, as well as a lot more interactive spaces and photo opportunities.
When booking, you are given a timeslot for a set tour, before being given free time at the end to explore the photo areas, shop, and food and drink spaces. As we waited for our tour to begin, we were given time in a sort of Friends mini museum, full of authentic costumes and props from the show. You’ll recognise Rachel’s horrific pink bridesmaid dress for Barry and Mindy’s wedding; Monica’s red prom dress; the turkey ‘headpiece’; Ross’s letter comparing Rachel and Julie; Chandler’s gold ‘bracelet buddy’ from Joey; Ursula’s porn video; amongst many others.
Monica and Rachel’s apartment is very festive
The guided tour started in Monica and Rachel’s apartment living-kitchen area, which had been suitably decked out for Christmas. The kitchen had familiar items fans from the show would recognise such as Phoebe’s skull full of liquorice, Rachel’s disastrous trifle-mince pie hybrid and a cardboard box full of Monica’s broken posh plates. Our group were given opportunity to explore the set and pose for photographs, before clearing the room so an empty photo could be taken. Helpfully, this was factored in for every room so you could get some decent shots without random people ruining your shot. Next, we progressed to the hallway, complete with candy basket hanging on Monica’s door. Moving on to Chandler and Joey’s apartment, it had cute touches like Hugsie the penguin on the sofa, and the drum kit Phoebe bought Joey to try and force Rachel to move out. Finally, it was the Central Perk set, with the iconic orange sofa, the neon service sign and Phoebe’s guitar on stage. Read the rest of this entry
CBR (Craft Beer Rising) comes to the Old Truman Brewery this month
Taking place at the climax of London Beer Week, CBR London 2016 is a new and improved version of the Craft Beer Rising festival. A two-day extravaganza at the Old Truman Brewery will feature 150 brewers showcasing over 600 different beer and ciders to sample. As well as plenty of drinking, there will be street food, live music and DJs.
This year’s festival will be CBR’s largest ever and include a diverse mix of breweries from the UK and abroad. Featuring UK brands such as Beavertown, Thornbridge, and Harviestoun, to international talent from Little Bichos, Lagunitas, Mikkheller, and Bronx Brewery. They’ll be ample opportunity to try your favourite craft beers as well as new product launches and recipes.
New at this year’s festival will be ‘Lost in Cyder Space’, a dedicated cider zone from Sheppy’s cider, who will be launching a new drink. Also taking part are Caple Road, Hogan’s And Italian producer Angioletti with their new blueberry rose infused cider. For those who want to mix things up, Auchentoshan and Don Papa will be serving their special whisky and rum-infused beers respectively. And for friends who prefer alternative tipples, there’ll be a wine bar, Hawkes ginger beer and Harry Brompton’s Ice Tea.
Bringing the sounds to CBR London will be headliners James Lavelle and Rob Da Bank on Friday and Saturday night respectively. Other acts performing over the weekend include Coldcut’s Jon Moore, Portishead sample digger Andy Smith, Boca 45, DJ Ross Allen, BBC6 Music’s Don Letts, music journo Pete Paphides and the Showhawk Duo. Meanwhile, The Vintage Mobile Disco, aka Donna Somerset, will be providing the grooves in the ‘Lost In Cyder Space’ zone.
At this year’s CBR London, the token system has been abolished so you can pay with cash and enjoy beers to take away. The Old Truman Brewery will also be the epicentre of London Beer Week (22-28 February 2016) so will play host to pop-up beer bars and immersive beer experiences for guests with a LBW wristband.
Art Of The Brick features over 75 sculptures, including ‘The Swimmer’, and runs at the Truman Brewery until April 2015
The mask: Three facial sculptures, including a self-portrait of the artist (blue)
Like many, I was a huge fan of Lego growing up. Forget dolls and playing ‘house’, I preferred to build houses, towns and goodness knows what else with Lego bricks. Now I doubt Lego has ever really fallen out of favour with children over the decades, but it certainly seems to be cooler than ever at the moment, following the release of the Lego movie earlier this year.
Following successful showings in New York, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Shanghai and Singapore, artist Nathan Sawaya’s Art Of The Brick exhibition has finally arrived in London. Running at the Old Truman Brewery until January, AOTB features over 75 sculptures made from over 1 million Lego bricks. Although I missed the launch, I went along recently with my sister (a fellow childhood Lego aficionado) to see how humble plastic bricks can be used to create pieces of art.
After watching a short video with an introduction to American artist Sawaya and his inspiration, we then started in the ‘classics’ section of the exhibition, where he had created Lego versions of iconic artwork such as Rodin’s The Thinker, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. While it was admirable to see these recreations, we were more interested to see Sawaya’s original pieces. His creations ranged from small to huge, with information boxes detailing his inspiration, the meaning and how many bricks used. It was interesting to see contrasting size sculptures sometimes having surprisingly close number of bricks involved to make them.
The T-Rex was made using over 80,000 bricks and measures over 6 metres long
Among the recognisable pieces of Sawaya’s work ‘Yellow’, a sculpture of a male torso opening his chest to reveal bricks spilling out. My favourite was ‘The Swimmer’, which was stunningly lit in its own room, featuring only the top half of a swimmer that you would see out of the water. The pièce de résistance was the huge T-Rex, made with 80,000 bricks and measuring over six metres in length.
An exhibition for both adults and children, there is also an Interactive Zone at the end so you can make your own creation. But given Sawaya’s sculptures took over 4,188 hours to make, budding Lego artists may find their options are limited. For those looking for some nostalgia or those with an interest in art made from non-traditional materials, I can recommend checking out Art Of The Brick.
Poignant: A grief-stricken male carries his dead love
Jan 14
This gallery contains 7 photos.
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