As a former Latin scholar (well, GCSE…), Diary loves some Roman ruins. We have spent many an exhausting day romping around Pompeii and Herculaneum in the scorching sun.
Southwark doesn’t sound quite as glamorous, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be the odd astonishing find – such as this beauty from U+I’s site at The Liberty of Southwark, where the Museum of London Archaeology has uncovered the largest area of Roman mosaic found in London for more than 50 years. MOLA’s discovery is part of excavation works taking place ahead of the construction of the new cultural quarter being jointly developed by U+I and Transport for London. Made up of two highly decorated panels, the mosaics feature large, colourful flowers, geometric patterns and elaborate motifs in a style, we are told, that is “unique to London”. That’s the thing about the capital, you just never know what treasures might be under your feet.
You wear what you eat
Diary is no stranger to an offbeat fashion collaboration but this first-look pop-up store, powered by two high street favourites, stopped us in our tracks on a recent night out in Soho. In what promises to be a spectacular collision between the worlds of fast food and fast fashion, “Greggs x Primark” is a limited-edition clothing collection at 60 stores, said to have sold out at some locations within hours of launch. We won’t make a “xxx” joke, but there is something about a neon sausage roll hanging above scanties that has that real Soho vibe. Meanwhile, the largest Greggs café in the largest Primark – called Tasty by Greggs – opened earlier this month in Birmingham, featuring a doughnut “swing” and “flying vegan sausage rolls”. These collaborations are nothing new, but could this meeting of household names really kick-start a trend? H&M x B&M? Sports Direct x Nando’s? Ann Summers x Five Guys? Items on the 11-piece Greggs x Primark menu include boxers and socks featuring the food chain’s most iconic item, as well as branded bucket hats, sliders and tracksuits. Get them while they’re hot…
Sweets leave a sour taste
Walking down Oxford Street these days is a bit like a Doctor Who episode. Don’t blink, or suddenly another overpriced import sweets shop will have opened where there was once a store you might have actually wanted to buy something in. Is there no end to the demand of London tourists for confectionery from anywhere but the UK? It seems not, judging by the travesty – the very affront to our culture – that is the latest branch of American Candy. Diary loves Jolly Ranchers and bizarre flavours of M&Ms as much as the next semi-humorous magazine page, but surely the line has to be drawn somewhere… and the desecration of iconic signage has to be that place. If ever English Heritage had a moral duty to step in, it is now. And, while it is at it, considering that HMV is now somewhat resurgent and opening new branches (partly, oddly enough, through the sale of imported sweets), surely it is time for the chain to be restored to its spiritual Oxford Street home, before Nipper the dog rots his teeth on Reese’s Pieces.
