Lifestyle

1. In addition to great food and service, your restaurants (Chez Bruce in Wandsworth, La Trompette in Chiswick and The Glasshouse in Kew) have been lauded for their wine offerings. What, in your opinion, is the key to this? The businesses are owned by wine fanatics – that helps! Both Nigel (Platts-Martin) and I are […]

My brother recently asked me what I would like for my birthday and I suggested that a bottle of 'I. W. Harper Kentucky Bourbon' might be well received as it features in a book I have been reading – 'The Handle' by Richard Stark. The anti-hero 'Parker' drinks it over ice and he's a discerning […]

Although international ‘lockdown' put paid to our travel plans and confined us to our homes it hasn't all been negative. We have had to innovate and acquire new skills in order to get on with getting on. Here are some of the innovations and pastimes that have got my family through the last few weeks. […]

Our annual spring lunch at Le Gavroche - which has been running for four decades and was scheduled to take place this Thursday - is one of the highlights of our events calendar; so we are wistful about its unavoidable cancellation this year. Happily, we have access to our archives and have been able to […]

1. Was there a particular wine or experience that made you decide to pursue a career in the world of wine? I was lucky enough to dine at a Michelin started restaurant in the Loire valley in 1991, they presented me with a huge wine list so I asked the sommelier to recommend something and […]

Having recently moved house I was rummaging in boxes for 'lockdown' reading material and made an unusual discovery – a hardback first edition of 'The Life and Loves of a She Devil' by Fay Weldon. It was signed and dated 'Fay Weldon Castle Cary, 25th Feb 1984'. Unfortunately, that inscription was preceded by a fateful […]

Apparently, mass confinement, necessitated by the Covid 19 virus, has seen a huge spike in demand for craft products. This is understandable as people with time on their hands seek creative diversion. I learned how to screen-print as a disaffected youth incarcerated at boarding school and have kept my hand in ever since. A few […]

When confined to barracks it is imperative to have some good books to hand to lose yourself in as time weighs heavy. I have been particularly fortunate in the quality and diversity of my recent reading material so thought it churlish not to share a few titles with a wider audience in a similar situation. […]

After a temporary pause in accepting new orders while we took stock, liaised with staff and assessed government advice, we are sending wine out again. We thought we should explain why and also how a few things have changed: Reasons why we are open • Customers were asking us for wine deliveries. • Our team […]

Regular customers will no doubt have noticed that we have updated our website. Our old website had served us well, but at over ten years old it was beginning to show its age. We have tried to keep the character of the old site, and the simplicity of the navigation, whilst putting in place a […]