Drain-spotting: The people who keep their minds in the gutter
By Bethan Bell
image copyrightAmir Dotan
Tour guides usually urge people to look up! when exploring a city, but a downwards glance can also offer portals into the unknown. Like bellybutton piercings of the streets, the gleam of these cast-iron discs are little glimpses of jewellery not usually seen.
Manhole covers, coalhole covers and drain covers all offer access to an underground world that, if not exactly thrilling, is at least full of artistry, history and in many cases, beauty.
Dr Shepherd Thomas Taylor, who studied medicine in 1860s London, is the first person known to have captured their charm.
11 May 2021
Jumeirah Group has unveiled plan to reopen the Carlton Tower Jumeirah in London next month.
Following an 18-month closure for refurbishment, the European flagship has undergone the most extensive makeover in its history, at a cost of over £100 million.
Every corner of the 17-story building has been redesigned, creating a new foyer and reception, 186 new bedrooms and suites (reduced from 216 to offer larger accommodations), as well as a new health club and spa.
Aaron Kaupp, general manager of the Carlton Tower Jumeirah, said: “We are thrilled to welcome back our valued guests following a significant investment and a complete renovation of the hotel with new rooms, restaurant, food and beverage offerings, spa and lobby entrance.
Anya Hindmarch has created her own high street
8 May 2021 • 5:00am
Anya Hindmarch outside her new venture, A Village
Credit: Rii Schroer
From Monday week (May 17), Pont Street – a Chelsea thoroughfare that runs off Sloane Street – is under new ownership. Anya Hindmarch, entrepreneur, handbag designer extraordinaire, one-time business ambassador for the UK and thoughtful environmentalist, will have her name above five shops there. That’s most of the first block.
She’s calling the project A Village. There’s the bespoke flagship she’s had there for 15 years – a magnet for just about every royal and rocker you’ve heard of – plus The Labelled Shop, dedicated to the fine art of organisation (one of her obsessions), and The Village Hall, an evolving concept space that for now houses an Anya Hair Salon which, although it can’t promise a long blonde mane like hers, will deliver “shampoos, therapy, coffee and champagne”.
Swansea civic centre is one of the UK s top 10 at risk modern buildings
A charity is campaigning to get the distinctive building listed to try to save it
Updated
Swansea civic centre on the UK s top ten most at risk 20th century buildings (Image: Western Mail Archive / Mirrorpix)
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Tom Parker Bowles steps out in the Spring sunshine and shows he s learning to smile again after the tragic death of his girlfriend from cancer.
The award-winning food writer and author was spotted sharing a meal with a female friend in London and the pair enjoyed the warm weather outside the exclusive River Café in west London.
Tom, 46, and his companion laughed and joked as she gave him a playful bear hug and pecked him on the cheek after leaving the eaterie by the Thames in Hammersmith.
Tom was left devastated earlier this year after his girlfriend of two years, the diarist Alice Procope passed away.