Elmwood tennis club turns on its floodlights

A bit of local news here. Is anyone a member?

Weekend update

It looks like the shop on what was KuddyCo is about to open. This is looking through its window.



The William IV seems to have reopened (not sure when, it wasn't ten days ago) and the menu seems to be Paradise prices. Has anyone tried it?

Finally did you get a "Love your locals" leaflet through the door? It has adverts and some discount vouchers/schemes for local businesses, mostly in Kensal Rise/Green and Londale Road in Queen's Park.

Weekend update

[Duplicate post to one above - left in because it has 1 comment]

Portobello Dock

26/09/2009
Originally uploaded by mjtphotos

Today and tomorrow (and last week) the new Portobello Dock is having a
an exhibition of 'creative talent' sponsored by Tom Dixon. It's a pretty major effort, with two buildings with multiple floors crammed full of various artists and designers' wares, some of which are for sale. Definitely worth seeing. I took some more pictures here and here and here and here and here's a Veuve Cliquot pod designed by one of the architects.

Crossrail?

Anonymous in the comments points us to this story, which is Kensington & Chelsea council have found only one poor area in the entire borough, sorry I mean one area that is in need of regeneration, and it's (as far as I can work out) by the Sainsbury's and gasworks near us. And they want to put a Crossrail station there.

Crossrail, if you don't know, is the railway scheme that is 10 years in the future, and always will be. Actually that's a bit too cynical, as in fact funding apparently has finally been secured and it actually might get built.

Quite why K&C have decided at this very late hour (it is due to be finalised in November) to go for a station I don't know. And one wonders whether it'll have enough backing. Clearly, as anonymous says, it would be quite transformative. Can anyone give us more information?

New brasserie

I think a commenter said this but today as we were looking at the Olive Branch we noted that Brilliant Kids has an licence application to reopen as 'The Brasserie', which sounds excellent. If you want to see the application it's here (but you've missed your chance to object - that was up to Friday).

Table top sale at Elmwood

flyer
Originally uploaded by mjtphotos

This looks as if it might be fun - it's on Sunday.

Health food shop message

This was left as a comment but I thought I would bring it forward as not many people see those old comments:

hello to all the Kensal Risers. Our health food shop, Kitchen Apothecary, has been running a little low on stock lately and that really is not our intention. Please bear with us as we are self funding and are not out to make a profit but to provide kensal rise with affordable whole foods and health products for all. We hope that we will be restocked and with bread back in a couple of weeks. Thank-you for all your support over the last few months and we hope to get back on track soon.
Please still feel free to come down for free healthcare advice and a cup of tea while we reorganise ourselves. xx Bastian & Shereen

The neighbourhood bulletin

for Queen's Park ward has dropped through our door. We learn that the council have:

* Given Tiverton Green (that's the bit of park north of Queen's Park) a makeover with a new pathway and benchmarks. I know the state of this park has exercised a lot of people in the area - I wonder if they are happier now?
* Formed a homework club at Brent library
* Distributed 'smartwater' packs to some residents. At first I thought this was going to be a water meter, ie probably charging us more. But no, it's a bit like those marker pens that you write on property so it can be traced if stolen.
* Kilburn Library garden - is apparently progressing well. In the wacky world of Brent libraries this is the library in Queen's Park [note this is a private project - see comments].

Praise for the paradise

A 'superchef' tells the Guardian that he really liked eating at the Paradise. I would concur - had some fantastic meals there. I especially liked (strangely) the butter, and the chicken pie.

We're apparently the hippest area in EUROPE

So says Vogue, via the Telegraph. It's a little hard to believe, even I only managed London's hippest area. Of course the Vogue Editor lives in Kensal Rise, doesn't she? But is this new - I voguely remember talking about it before. Perhaps the Telegraph journalist is trying to sell....

UPDATE: Hang on. Why not the world? Where is better...

Lexi update

I thought I would just post the latest Lexi cinema email, which reminded me its Queen's Park Day Sunday, more of which later.

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Director Oliver Parker’s Q&A at The Lexi

Oliver Parker, resident of Queen's Park and director of films ranging from St. Trinians to Fade to Black, will be visiting the Lexi for a special screening of his new film, Dorian Gray this Thursday 10th September at 8.00pm. This is the third time Oliver and producer Barnaby Thompson have collaborated on an Oscar Wilde adaptation. The previous films were The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband. Following the film Oliver will be answering questions from the audience about the film, about adapting Oscar Wilde for the screen, the British film industry and any other issues you’d like to raise!

The Lexi goes to Queens Park on Sunday 13^th September for Queens Park Day, so make sure you visit us and take part in our film quiz competitions with loads of fab prizes donated by Warner brothers, thank you volunteer Ruth!

On a Green note, we were invited to talk at The Canary Wharf Film Festival at their Green Sunday event and we realised we do know something about the topic (even if our South African partners know a hell of a lot more!). So it is absolutely natural that we are hosting The Kensal to Kilburn Transition Town Film Club which launches on Wednesday 16^th of September, 6.30 for 7.00pm, with The End of Suburbia, including post-film discussion and bar staffed by Adam, our new marketing manager, and me.

Films, Films, Films

We are all loving Broken Embraces; as the FT said, “can Pedro Almodovar make a bad film? No.” So we are squeezing in two extra shows for you, one on Saturday 12^th September at 15.30 and one on Tuesday 15^th at 6.00pm

Coming up, we have much talked-about District 9 with it’s amazing viral marketing campaign, as well as The September Issue- if you enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada, this is the real thing, The Lexi are Vogue devotees after the listing of Chamberlayne Road and The Lexi in Vogue’s Secret Address Book. In addition to these, we have Meryl Streep, giving one of her outstanding performances in Julie and Julia, so keep up to date by checking our website regularly.

Our regular Saturday Kids Klub films continue to be a big hit! The next two Saturday screenings are Nim's Island and The Incredibles, and in response to popular demand we also have two forthcoming Sing Along sessions, led by one our wonderful Lexi singers! The first will be Bugsy Malone on Saturday 26th September - splurge guns at the ready...

Talking of fabulous...The Flicker Club returns to The Lexi for All About Eve on Thursday 24^th September at 7 for 7.30pm.

To remind you about the uniqueness of the Club – a guest speaker reads the short story from which the film emerged. We launched with Miranda Richardson (and we don’t get to know who the reader is until the night, so you can imagine how exciting it was when Miranda flew into our auditorium!) who read from Daphne du Maurier's original short story, The Birds. We followed this up with Director Sean Mathias’s illuminating reading and interpretation of Breakfast at Tiffany's (did you know that Truman Capote wanted Marilyn Munro as Holly Golightly - now that would have been a different film!) So do not miss our 3^rd Flicker Club and the incomparable Bette Davis, in a film that swept the board in terms of awards - a must-see on the big screen.

Our friends at The Tricycle Cinema in Kilburn would like to invite you all to a special event of their own on Monday 14th September at 7.15pm, a special preview screening of the eagerly anticipated Away We Go, introduced by Academy Award winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road). A funny, heartfelt film following the adventures of an expectant couple as they travel the U.S. in search of the perfect place to put down roots and raise their family, you can book tickets for this event through the box office on 020 7328 1000.

The Lexi also has a pair of complimentary tickets to offer to the first subscriber to correctly answer the following question:

Which well-known London theatre did Sam Mendes help to transform?

Get your answer over to Adam, our new marketing manager: adam.mcdougall@thelexicinema.co.uk

Finally...to give you all good warning...6 people from our charity The Sustainability Institute are coming to the UK in mid-October for a course at The Schumacher College and they are in London for a couple of days. So this will be your chance to meet them and find out what all the excitement is about. Watch this space...

Big fire

06/09/2009
Originally uploaded by mjtphotos

Does anyone know what was the cause of this big fire, which looked as if it was coming from the Willesden area? It was on Saturday about midday.

Not a lot going on

Here's the Lexi cinema what's on.

The new Italian, The Olive Branch, is presumably opening this week. Is that right? First person to go please give us a review.