Craft & Courage

 

It's hard to believe it was ten years ago that I started this blog. As a photographer, I'd never had an exhibition or publicly displayed my work in any way. Blogs were just getting popular, and it seemed like a great way to get a body of work out there in the public domain. But what subject matter to choose? The possibilities were endless, but I felt it made sense to stick with something local, that would be easy to revisit at any moment. I also thought it needed to have boundaries, with a beginning and an end. The Triangle had interested me since I moved to the area in 2006. It's largely independent shops and cafés giving the area its unique identity. Focusing on that theme, I was able to combine my work as an interiors photographer with an exploration of the people and places of Crystal Palace. While much of my day to day work is about pristine designed interiors, this blog was also to be about the people behind the businesses, and what makes a local community. And to be fair, those boundaries have become a little blurred, with many posts taking me slightly off triangle! It's also proved to be a never ending source of material, as shops and cafés come and go.

My very first post back in March 2011, was about the wonderful newly opened, and now much missed cheese, wine and beer shop, Good Taste, set up by Manish Utton-Mishra at 28 Westow Hill. So I thought it would be fitting to return to the same site to feature the current occupants. Opening in June 2018, Craft & Courage had previously been located across the road, starting life as a pop up called Craft Palace. Owners, Mark and Ela Westcott already had one similar outlet in Tooting, but one visit to Crystal Palace, was enough, not only to fall in love with the place, but also to persuade them that this was the perfect area for another site. The reason for the subsequent move across the street, was the possibility of an on-license which was not available at the other shop unit. Once lockdown ends, the bar side of the business will reopen  as will the alpine style chalet in the garden. Adding 'courage' to the name was to reflect that gin, a drink of Dutch origin (so, Dutch courage) was now a large part of the business. They even distil their own range of the spirit, currently made in Wandsworth, but soon to be made right here at no.28. Much of the beer is also local, and includes favourites from breweries including, Gipsy Hill, Canopy, of Herne Hill, Pressure Drop, from Tottenham, and By the Horns based in Tooting. Alongside the local brews are plenty of classics from Bavaria, Belgium and elsewhere. Like most businesses, C&C has had to adapt to the peculiar circumstances of the pandemic, and now offers draught beer in a refillable container known as a Growler. Mark is particularly grateful for the continued support of locals during the last year, which has really been helped by the successful shop local campaign, but also helped by the fact that people are working from home. A boon for all local businesses.

Refillable 'Growlers'

The alpine lodge and beer garden hopefully opening on April 12th!

Ela and Mark Westcott

Reunion

Back in 1996, No.38 Westow Street was derelict, and had a tree growing out of it. Apparently not that unusual at the time. Across the road, at what is now Mediterranea, another tree was growing out of the empty building, and much of Westow Street was boarded up. So it was a somewhat brave decision by Alison Mcnaught and Dominic Holmes, two friends who'd met while working in a ski resort, to buy the empty building and more or less rebuild it from scratch. Putting their names together, the restaurant would become Domali.
Since their ski resort days, they had both worked for a while at the trend-setting Fire Station restaurant, which had just opened in Waterloo. As Alison recalls, pesto and bruschetta were the latest things. They wanted to bring a bit of that taste and style, along with the buzz of music festivals to Crystal Palace. Added to that, vegetarian restaurants were just beginning to appear, although ironically, the one that started it all, Cranks, was on the verge of collapse. The veggie breakfast became their signature, and endured as long as Domali itself, to become a local institution. The decade following the crash of 2008, saw trading conditions slowly get tougher, so the restaurant had a revamp, and even put meat on the menu. Then 'buggy-gate' happened. Despite the adverse publicity over Alison's new policy regarding prams, takings shot up, although it was a horrible experience she would rather not relive. By 2018, with austerity, rising costs, the Beast from the East, all taking their toll, the decision was taken to close Domali, but the eponymous partnership was not ready to give up doing what they loved, so Reunion was born. Things were run on a new model, bringing in regular pop-ups, cooking a variety of cuisines, from Trinidadian to Nigerian, bringing new flavours to the Triangle, plus hiring out the space for events and private parties.
However, after 24 years, Alison has decided to hang up the apron, and let out the space to new operators. She still has lots of faith in Crystal Palace, and is certain there's still lots of potential for someone younger to make a success of a business on the site. Meanwhile, she fully intends to continue supporting the Triangle in various capacities, with her involvement with the local traders association, with SE19 Lates, and as a trustee of the festival. In her view, alongside the green spaces, and the Triangle's perfect distance from central London (not too close, but not too far), it's the local people that make the area what it is, and she is proud to have had over 400 of them working at no.38 over the years, helping make it the cosy and welcoming bar and restaurant that it is. It will be missed, but at nearly a quarter of a century, it's tenure has clearly been a resounding success.

Alison McNaught

PS. Don't forget Reunion will be open all weekend, and the bar open on Sunday, as it's hosting an exhibition of superb photography as part of the Crystal Palace Artists Open House. And thereby hangs a rather amusing little anecdote. Many years ago, the now successful photographer in question, got a job in Domali. His name.... Dom Marley. You couldn't make it up!

PPS. It's been too darned wet to get a decent shot of the exterior!

JOE

28-30 Church Road has already featured twice on this blog; first as part of Bambino's, and then as Boyce de Roca, a cafe which occupied the premises for a couple of years. Then in July 2017, Joe Hirschhorn opened his eponymous bar. With its eclectic decor, it certainly doesn't feel like your average bar, and it has always been Joe's intention to do something unique, rather than following the herd with an identikit watering hole. The collection of Victorian Staffordshire figurines housed in the beautiful display cabinets, is a nod to their charismatic owner's former career as an antique dealer. Days he remembers fondly as a very creative time, when he was based at the Gasworks in Fulham. Furniture design is another of Joe's skills, with the chairs and tables having been designed by him. They're intended to be communally shared, and moved around to suit whatever's going on in the venue. The circular drum-like stools also have a removable lid for customers' coats and bags. Along another wall is a record collection and decks. There's no playlist, and customers are encouraged to choose the music, which makes it feel like you're in your own living room.
Calling this place a bar, wouldn't do it justice, it seems to offer so much more. Joe prefers drinks cafe, rather than pub or cocktail bar, but it's also an intimate little venue for a fascinating array of unusual music, cabaret, poetry, cinema, and DJs. Recent performances have included the award winning Celia Quartet, Kate Gilbert's intriguingly named Lost & Found Cabaret, Viola da Gamba player and teacher at the Royal College of Music, Reiko Ichise, and even something called Brexit - The Gameshow! 
And I haven't even mentioned the food and drink yet. The menu consists of exceptionally good tapas, but it's the drinks that have already become legendary locally, and once on the subject, Joe is clearly animated and extremely knowledgable. When opening the bar, he felt strongly that while London is incredibly innovative when it comes to food, drinks are often run of the mill standard offerings, and he was determined to do things differently. With particular focus on spirits, the drinks cafe is a place where everything except the alcohol is actually made on the premises. So a range of tonics using cinchona, are all steeped for 24 hours in fruits and spices behind the bar. And home made cola is made with coriander, star anise, ginger and orange. The very stylish drinks are served with reusable glass straws, and in winter some are even served hot, which is a revelation.
After learning much from Joe about the history of gin, we went on to local history, and how, when the Crystal Palace arrived on a rural local hillside in the 1850s, the area immediately became the centre of the universe, with the world flocking to the ground breaking building to discover all the very latest in Victorian invention and technology. He feels lucky to be living and working in an area with such a rich legacy, and is hopeful that the Phoenix suburb's time is coming again.

Gin with Andalusian Tonic steeped in hibiscus, rose, orange, apple, and elderberry, with rose petals sprinkled on top

Joe Hirschhorn

JOE