Wednesday 24 June 2020

WALL ART A style hit for Zoomers: Page 26

Saving Soho ’s most famous streets are fighting for survival. We must support them PAGES 20 & 21 ADRIAN LOURIE

homesandproperty.co.uk Winner 2020 BEST LIFESTYLE NEWS SITE 20 WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 2020 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | London life

Gearing up to reopen: Nima Safei of 40 Dean Street. After a deep clean this week the restaurant will be ready to serve Italian classics again; far right, preparations are under way to welcome summer visitors back to Covent Garden

Soho stages an alfresco fightback Lockdown brought many bars and bistros in the heart of London to the brink of collapse. They are pinning their hopes on a summer-long street festival. By Anna White

Keep your social OHO, at the very heart of distance: enjoying London, is fighting for its takeaway food at a life. A centre for enter- safe distance from tainment both theatrical others in Covent and edgy since the 19th Garden, where bars century, it’s where Lon- and eateries are S doners enjoyed a good preparing to reopen — or naughty — night for business from out. In recent years its sex industry has been 11am to 11pm with eased out and respectability has been easing strict anti-Covid in, with Soho’s streets becoming fashionable precautions in place venues for good food and lively bistros. The small restaurants and bars have wel- comed loyal customers for years but three months of lockdown have crushed the hos- pitality business and livelihoods. Now, in a bid to save Soho, 55 independent bars, res- taurants and cafés, led by Soho Estates, have submitted proposals for the Soho Summer Street Festival — a summer-long alfresco event with roads closed to traffic and eater- KICK-STARTING THE SOHO SCENE Strange days: bars ies spilling out on to the pavements. “Soho has been a ghost town over the last and eateries in Soho Devised in early May, the festival has been few months,” says John James, chairman of and Covent Garden beset by problems but in the last 24 hours Soho Estates. “The Soho Summer Street have stayed afloat in Soho operators have been given fresh hope Festival is about survival. A third of these lockdown offering that it can go ahead. After a consultation with restaurants wouldn’t make it [through the takeaway food and businesses and an Evening Standard inves- coronavirus crisis] but the festival gives drinks. Now a tigation, Westminster City Council con- them a fighting chance.” summer-long firmed yesterday that it has slashed a £1,950 He describes the cut in licence levy as a open-air festival licence fee per unit to nearer £500. good result but is more concerned about the could turn the tide A council proposal last week listed the fees application process. “Most serious is the these businesses, some on the brink of col- time this will take. We might simply run out lapse, would have to find to put a few extra of time to have any hope of success.” tables outside, including planning permis- A booking App is being devised so that sion (£500) and premises licence (£500). diners can be told when their table becomes Yesterday, the authority said: “The council available, to prevent queuing. There will be is doing as much as possible to support the pop-up hand sanitiser stations and the cen- hospitality industry and we are working with tre of the road will be used for people to walk businesses to find creative ways to reopen or access for emergency service vehicles. It the city’s pubs, restaurants and cafés.” is suggested that delivery vehicles access This followed news that social distancing the area before 11am. will halve to a metre and the sector will reo- HOMES & pen on July 4. The 55 businesses will keep INDIE EATERIES GET CREATIVE lobbying on street trading hours. They had Lukas Rackauskas runs Russian restaurant PROPERTY asked for some streets, including Frith St, and deli Zima from a Georgian townhouse ONLINE Dean St and Old Compton St, to close to in Frith Street. When the lockdown hit, he traffic from 11am to 11pm so they can serve turned Zima into a “makeshift kiosk” doing Award-winning outside. In response, the council will allow takeaways and deliveries. “It hasn’t compen- homesand pavement trading from 5pm to 11pm, miss- sated for the loss of trade but it has kept us ing weekday brunch and lunchtime trade. going,” he says. He describes the Westmin- property.co.uk EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 2020 21 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by London life | Homes Property

Parisian style: Frenchie in Henrietta St, Covent Garden sells takeaway drinks and delivers three-course meals now and is getting ready to serve at pavement tables Below: The Oystermen Seafood Bar & Kitchen in AFP/GETTY, ADRIAN LOURIE, PAUL GROVER PAUL ADRIAN LOURIE, AFP/GETTY, Henrietta Street. The street will be pedestrianised for summer

Ready for Soho Summer Street Festival: left, head chef Jurate Volodzko and in the window, front of house Karina Andrianova at Zima in Frith Street. The plan is for the Russian restaurant and deli to have pavement tables

ster plan as “falling short but a step in the and we have now installed socially distanced right direction”. Rackauskas intends to put alfresco dining in the Piazza, too,” says tables outside and serve delicacies such as WHERE TO BUY IN THE WEST END Michelle McGrath, director of Capital & pork sashlyk, washed down with his home- Counties Properties (Capco), the developer made kvass — a Baltic beverage traditionally that has transformed Covent Garden over made from rye bread. the last 14 years. Nima Safei and his sister Neda have been In the streets around the Piazza, bars and dishing up Italian cuisine in Soho for nearly restaurants are preparing to reopen in ear- 20 years at 40 Dean Street but in December nest and have been granted longer pave- 2016 the restaurant burned down. “It was ment trading hours than Soho, from 11am the worst day of my life,” says Nima, who to 11pm every day. lives in Soho. Rob Hampton runs The Oystermen Sea- The pair built the business back up but of food Bar & Kitchen, and mini market, in course, had to close for lockdown. This week Henrietta Street. This street will be pedes- the restaurant is being deep cleaned as they trianised for the summer. gear up to serve their much-missed classics “Covent Garden closed overnight, so we including Margherita pizza and black ink From £1.11 milion: homes at Hexagon Apartments in From £642,000: flats in landscaped gardens with spa run a mini market selling fresh vegetables, linguini. Covent Garden WC2. Through (020 7409 8756) at West End Gate, Marylebone W2 (020 3051 3989) meat, fish and — in the early days — toilet rolls,” he says. A COVENT GARDEN COMEBACK TOWNHOUSES and period flats in Soho and Covent Garden One-bedroom flats start from £1.11 million. For details, email The Oystermen is running happy hour Covent Garden is also adopting an alfresco come with multimillion-pound price tags. It’s the stamping Savills on [email protected] or call 020 7409 8756. between 3pm and 5pm, when customers recovery strategy, heralded by a giant rain- ground of celebrities and the creative elite. A three-bedroom It is possible to find homes in Soho under £1 million — just. can buy six oysters and a glass of bubbly for bow balloon flying 30ft overhead to welcome flat with a roof terrace in Wardour Street, in the heart of Soho, Above the new entrance to Tottenham Court Road Crossrail £10. “Next, we hope to flip our restaurant on visitors back to the world-famous Piazza. is for sale with Dexters at £2.25 million (020 7224 5544). station are 81 new apartments priced from £990,000. Call to the streets for the summer.” A socially distanced queuing system has is selling an industrial-style flat above shops in Dean Galliard Homes on 020 7620 1500. Frenchie, the Parisian-style restaurant set been marked out, hand sanitiser stations Street for £1.15 million, with a planted roof terrace and views Head to Marylebone as a cheaper West End village. West End up by celebrity chef Greg Marchand, is sell- have been set up and some stores are doing over Soho. Call 020 7659 8100. Capital & Counties (CapCo) has Gate is the new Berkeley Homes development with 542 ing takeaway wine and beer by the glass and click and collect. Visitors are being advised been transforming Covent Garden since 2006, adding new apartments under construction. They will come with gardens, a pint and delivers a three-course meal box. to wear masks. “Covent Garden has the homes. Its Hexagon Apartments scheme has homes for sale piazza, gym, spa and cinema. One-bedroom flats start at As soon as possible, Frenchie will also be advantage of being an open-air destination in Parker Street on the border of Covent Garden and Holborn. £642,000. Call 020 3797 3218. serving on the street. 22 WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 2020 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Property searching In the second of our series on central London Ruth Bloomfield reveals districts with top-value homes Zone 2 best buys

AS THE capital begins to return to work after lockdown, a new study from reveals the three best value-for-money locations across Zone 2 — from up-and-coming south-east London to a leafier option in the west, all with fast links into the heart of the city and the option of walking or cycling to work.

£550,000: two-bedroom top-floor Victorian conversion flat in Pepys Road, New Cross Gate SE14. Through Peter James (020 3858 3530)

New beginnings for Old Kent Road: developers Avanton and Urban & Provincial have permission to build 260 flats and new shops

SE8 once-industrial dead zone is being £565,000: SE14 DEPTFORD regenerated with projects such as The above, a two- NEW CROSS GATE Timberyard, with flats to buy and rent bedroom, two- £638 PER SQ FT by L&Q, bringing some 1,100 new bathroom flat in £641 PER SQ FT homes, shops and a café to the area. Vertex Tower, OFTEN touted as the new Shoreditch Deptford’s property stock also Harmony Place, GRITTY and grimy now, this — or the new Peckham — this south- includes period terraces in conserva- SE8. Through JLL, postcode is on the edge of a east London neighbourhood has more tion areas and period conversion flats. Greenwich (020 £10 billion regeneration plan. It than just value for money on its side. Michael Petherbridge, area manager 8012 5122) offers great transport links, good There’s a busy high street and an at agents Oliver Jaques, says a £660,000: left, a value and investment potential. excellent street market, a cinema run three-bedroom period house around three-bedroom New Cross Gate to London by the community, an arts centre and Deptford Park would cost from terrace house in Bridge trains take 10 minutes. But stacks of independent cafés, bars and £700,000. “They were selling at the peak Elverson Road, Bakerloo line extension plans restaurants. You can walk along Dept- of the market, four or five years ago Deptford SE8. could put the area on the Tube ford Creek to the Thames, while Black- before Brexit, for £900,000,” as demand Winkworth (020 map. If the project goes ahead it heath is an easy walk to the east, with rippled down the Thames from London 8012 0785) would make a massive difference Greenwich just beyond. Bridge, he explains. to the area, but trains are not Transport links are great for the City, Younger buyers wanting to be close slated to run until at least 2030. with trains to Cannon Street in 12 min- to the high street should budget Meanwhile, scruffy, traffic- utes, or Canary Wharf via the Dock- £400,000 to £500,000 for a two-bed- clogged Old Kent Road is in for a lands Light Railway. And the room flat. huge facelift with thousands of new homes including Cantium, a £600 million mixed-used scheme with a 48-storey skyscraper, 1,100 flats, open space and piazzas. W3 From £369,999: This month, developers Avanton ACTON far left, new and Urban & Provincial secured homes at The permission for more than 260 £669 PER SQ FT Verdean in Acton flats, plus new shops, on a (savills.com) warehouse site. In total they plan THIS Victorian suburb has regenera- £500,000: left, a to build more than 2,100 flats at a tion potential thanks to the promise of one-bedroom cost of £795 million. Work on the new transport links. terrace house in phase just approved starts next Already blessed with five Tube or train The Goldsmith year, with the first residents stations within its boundaries, W3 has Buildings, a listed moving in at the end of 2022. seen a wave of investment since Cross- almshouse in Right now local amenities are a rail was announced. From next summer Acton W3. Call bit basic. Post-lockdown it will be trains from Acton Main Line, on the fast Whitman & Co better to walk to Peckham or new Elizabeth line, will reach Bond (020 8012 1791) Bermondsey for restaurants, Street in nine minutes, down from the shops and nightlife. But in current 27 minutes, with the Canary more bang for your buck, Gandhi sug- Acton Estate — now known as Upton property terms there is plenty Wharf commute slashed to 23 minutes gests the streets around Springfield Gardens — has helped smarten up the going on beyond new homes. The instead of 42 minutes. Gardens for a three- to four-bedroom Thinking of southern part of W3. Buyers who want Telegraph Hill and Hatcham Park There are also plans for a Crossrail house at about £1.1 million. a new home could take a look at The conservation areas are pretty station at Old Oak Common, which will Younger buyers might prefer South moving? Start Verdean, by Mount Anvil, a develop- enclaves of Victorian houses, benefit those living in North Acton. Acton, which has the advantage of being your search on ment of almost 1,000 properties on a where a four- to five-bedroom Acton is one of London’s larger sub- close to Gunnersbury Park, the area’s six-acre site close to Acton Main Line home would be about £850,000, urbs but Narendra Gandhi, director at biggest and best open space, as well as station. The scheme has plenty of open remarkable value for Zone 2. Winkworth, says the most sought-after the bars, restaurants and shops of space, which is surely a post-lockdown A two-bedroom period spot is Poets Corner, just north of Acton Chiswick High Road. essential, as well as an on-site gym. conversion flat starts at £400,000, Central station. An Edwardian house A two-bedroom period conversion The homes went on sale yesterday while a two-bedroom purpose- with four to five bedrooms there would would be about £500,000, while the with Savills, priced from £369,999. Visit built flat in a dated development cost about £1.35 million. To achieve ongoing regeneration of the South savills.com for more. would be about £300,000. EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 2020 23 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Healthy new homes | Homes Property New homes come with a kill zone for germs Jessica Mairs discovers the latest Covid-fighting building methods

IRUS-KILLING surfaces, now be standard fare at Uncommon’s Prices from thermal cameras, at-home four communal workspaces, which £1.3 million: medical packages and also offer yoga and spinning classes. above, flats and self-contained neighbour- “Employees want to be kept safe and townhouses at hoods are some of the new and protected,” says Adir. Magna Carta Vways to live and work after Covid-19. Uncommon’s fifth and largest venue Park, a new At Lyons Place, a new luxury opens in Holborn next year and is private estate in scheme of townhouses and flats in striving to be the first office in Britain Surrey, where Maida Vale designed by leading to achieve a platinum-level WELL the pandemic architect Sir Terry Farrell, an invisible Building Standard, the highest has contributed antibacterial and antiviral coating has benchmark for air quality, daylighting to a residents’ been applied to lift buttons, door and relaxation in the workplace. wellness plan handles, reception desks and loos to “The whole ethos of Uncommon is a offering at-home stop the spread of germs (lyonsplace. co-working space based on health medical services co.uk). and wellbeing, which in turn boosts The antimicrobial treatment, called productivity, concentration and a Zonitise, creates a “constant kill zone” healthy mental state when at work,” and is an assurance of health says Adir. “Over the years, the Below: based protection to buyers at developer workplace agenda has moved from on health and Almacantar’s scheme, with prices efficiency, to effectiveness, wellbeing, the from £895,000 for a one-bedroom attractiveness, and now the wellness new co-working home to £3.7 million for a penthouse. of workers.’’ space from “It is a 12-month lasting treatment Smaller workspaces are adapting to Uncommon which seals the surface and is become “Covid secure”, too. The opens in effective against the mono-virus — pandemic scuppered the launch of Holborn next coronavirus — but also E-Coli and ARC Club, a flexible workspace in year and puts influenza,” explains Zonitise business Homerton, but co-founder and workers’ development manager Mark Tennent. designer Caro Lundin believes “the wellness at the Antimicrobial coatings have been hyperlocal mentality will be a draw. top of the used widely in hospitals and airports Working within walking distance of agenda for 20 years. Now Covid-19 has brought new interest from the residential sector. “Residents living in flats and sharing communal areas are looking to see what developers and their landlords are doing to minimise that risk of cross- contamination and the spread of germs via touch points,” says Tennent. The pandemic has brought a wider interpretation of wellness at home. In the case of Magna Carta Park, a new estate in Surrey of 33 houses and 24 flats, priced from home will appeal to people who do £1.3 million to £4.75 million, the not want to take public transport and outbreak has contributed to the are fed up with the discomfort of introduction of the Optimising working from the kitchen table.’’ Wellness Plan which, along with a spa In the meantime, Lundin is and gym, offers residents medical installing sneeze guards, temporary services including at-home door handle coverings, sparse seating vaccinations (magnacartapark.com). plans and extra ventilation. Italian architect Stefano Boeri has CO-WORKING designed a new neighbourhood in The epidemic has brought its own Tirana, Albania, which he says is “the issues to the close-quartered first district capable of responding to arrangements of co-working spaces. the new needs of the post-pandemic HOMES & Here, the meaning of wellness is also phase”. Containing a mix of housing, PROPERTY shifting says Tania Adir, founder of businesses and schools interspersed ONLINE co-working office provider with greenery and linked by Uncommon. Thermal cameras pedestrianised zones, is it designed as Award-winning monitoring body temperature, an eco-friendly and self-sufficient homesand hospital-grade sanitising, air neighbourhood equipped to deal with sterilisers and desk separators will life after Covid-19. property.co.uk 24

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26 WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 2020 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Interiors

Above: Ziggy print by Deltanova, 70x100cm, £70 at Habitat (habitat.co.uk) Right: Wildlife Leaves set of framed prints, £219 at Desenio (desnio.co.uk)

HILE we have been in lockdown our homes have never been so exposed to the outside world, as camera con- Wferences with work colleagues provide the irresistible opportunity to snoop around other people’s houses. Knowing that home working is here to stay, there has been a surge in Google searches for wall art, while interiors stores Habitat, John Lewis and Wayfair say their online sales of framed prints and canvases are at record levels. MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION WITH A HOME GALLERY WALL Mix a cocktail of wall art: top and “Hanging art in groups is not as com- above, summer best sellers from Habitat plicated as it looks,” says Helen Buckley, include Aperol Spritz and Negroni prints, curator at Rise Art (riseart.com). Now 30x40cm, by Nick Barclay, priced £25 coming up to its 20th year, it sells the each (habitat.co.uk) work online of 600 artists worldwide. Buckley’s gallery wall at home started with three pictures and is now covered. without the price tag”. Attwood says: “Gallery walls tell a more personal story “Take risks and trust your gut. A gallery than a large, single artwork,” she says. wall has the power to change the entire “And collecting art this way is affordable feeling of a room.” and fun.” Give Zoom callers The web is awash with art inspiration, GETTING STARTED including 1.2 million Instagram posts Mark out the space of your gallery on with hashtag #gallerywalls. Use them the floor with tape, says Maria Hipwell to get your eye in. Detailed guides are from consultancy Art Absolutely (art- on Made.com and Poster Store (post- absolutely.com). “Then lay out your erstore.co.uk), while influencers such something to look at pieces, starting in the middle and mov- as Lisa Dawson (@_lisa_dawson_) tweak ing outwards. Take a picture and see their wall art on a regular basis. how it looks.” Dawson says: “Mix typography with Going one step further is Katherine photography, charity shop finds with Home working is here to stay. Barbara Chandler tracks Lemin, wall décor buyer at John Lewis oil paintings, limited-edition prints with (johnlewis.com), who says: “Cut out holiday memories.” Find her tips and down wall art to impress nosy colleagues at conference paper to the size of your frames and many more in blogger Kate Wat- White Tack these to the wall. Sellotape son-Smyth’s new book Mad About the sheets together for larger sizes.” House: 101 Interior Design Answers capital’s longest-running art fair, held Here are some neat notions for getting (Pavilion, £20). at the Royal Academy of Arts. Mean- a good result. John Lewis does gallery “Variety adds vitality,” says London while, London Art Week Digital will run sets of up to 11 frames designed to hang interior designer Shanade McAllis- from July 3 to 10 (londonartweek.co.uk). together, in walnut, gold, silver, white ter-Fisher (shanademcallisterfisher. Habitat adds new artists twice a year or black, at prices from £50 to £80. com). “Mix genres, such as botanicals, to its London editions, with prices from Habitat (habitat.co.uk) sells a set of portraits, abstracts and photography. £18 to £125. Currently customers are five frames, called Kupari, in copper or Similarly, mix frame styles and sizes.” loving graphic prints in bright colours, gold for £80. Sets available at Made.com Consider wall sculpture and textiles to with typography and numbers. Habitat also include the art, with four mono add depth and texture. in Tottenham Court Road reopened this prints in frames costing £159. week, with Finchley and Westfield But for the largest choice of instant PAY HOMAGE TO stores following next week. edits head to online Swedish poster THE MASTERS H&M in Regent Street is now open brand Desenio (desenio.co.uk). You Buy from the web shops of the big again, with prints by London artists simply buy a set of framed prints, from museums and galleries. You can browse from £9.99 and posters from £6.99. around £240 complete, and follow hundreds of international artists at The Try East End Prints in Brick Lane, E2, Desenio’s hanging guide. You get free Other Art Fair Online Studios (see for affordable modern prints and post- delivery over £29 — but it won’t have saatchiart.com/theotherartfair). Or ers (eastendprints.co.uk) and Lumitrix that personal touch. access virtual art shows at a clutch of in W10 for contemporary framed pho- London galleries at Mayfair Art Week- tography (lumitrix.com). FOR ART-LOVING RENTERS end (mayfairartweekend.com/what- Sophie Attwood and Daniel Lewis To avoid nails, use 3M Command Strips son). Find a detailed guide to fine art launched their online interiors business (command3m.co.uk) on frame and wall. print-making at London Original Print Husoe Home (husoehome.com) during Have fun with folk art: set of two framed prints in the style of Mexican artist Frida They click into place and you can peel Fair (londonoriginalprintfair.com), the lockdown, for “luxury homewares — Kahlo, famed for her iconic, brightly coloured self-portraits. Priced £199 (audenza.com) them off later. From around £3.