Boris Johnson and Gary Rhodes at Leadenhall Market

April 23, 2009 by Moorgate Mercurius
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Mayor of London Boris Johnson was at Leadenhall Market with chef Gary Rhodes today to celebrate St George’s Day and arrived, slightly late it has to be said, on a red Routemaster bus and gave a speech in the Market expressing his pride in England and London and about drawing on St Georges Day as an opportunity to celebrate the great things about London and England:
“What better time than St George’s Day to bring us all together to express the pride we have in our country”

Moving to a theme of absorbing foreign culture he did also point out that Saint George was a Cappadocian merchant who sold bacon to the Roman army, so there’s my useless fact for the day!

The folk musicians were playing and a fair crowd of assorted folks were there with the inevitably high proportion of suits and I never thought I’d be even slightly moved by the sight of Morris Dancers but they were there doing their thing as a reminder of bygone, simpler times and a crowd of passing foreign schoolchildren stood watching them for a while with a certain amount of bemusement. Now they know how we feel watching men in lederhosen slapping themselves or each other!

Town Crier Peter Moore, who shares the unique distinction amongst town criers of being a Freeman and a liveryman, was there giving the proceedings a more properly formal air and I also bumped into Dave Jones, who’s one of the organisers of this Saturday’s Saint George’s Day concert in Trafalgar Square.

A great celebration to be sure though even Boris can’t get a bus to run on time apparently…

Greater London Authority Press Release
http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=21797

St George’s Day concert on the square
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/culture/st-georges-day/concert.jsp

Peter Moore – Town Crier
www.londontowncrier.com

Tags: Boris, Leadenhall Market

Saint George’s Week at Leadenhall Market

April 21, 2009 by Moorgate Mercurius
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Cheese at Leadenhall Market On Saturday I was partying with the Dutch but as this week is Saint George’s Week and Leadenhall Market is celebrating by showing off the best in English wine, ale and food so I popped along to the combined shop and cafe “Cheese”, who are marking the week by highlighting the great British cheeses that they have available such as the gloriously named Stinking Bishop and Isle of Wight Blue, to name but two. I suspect I’ve been one of many people who’ve lingered under the misapprehension that cheese basically comes in two varieties, namely the edible variety that comes on pizzas and burgers or the smelly variety which was created purely to challenge the gag reflex of young children.

I spoke to the immensely affable and approachable owner and manager Sue Cloke who dispelled that particular myth with a fabulous range of artisan cheeses and was able to tempt me to one of their upcoming events,
“informal master classes, where Sue will guide the student through the tastes and textures of selected cheeses and discover how cheese is made, their characteristics and suggested uses in cooking and entertaining.

Sue certainly knows her stuff having been at the helm in the cheese department of the well known Harvey Nichols store and prior to that was at Leathams Larder and Jermyn Street cheese emporium Paxton and Whitfield so if you’re either a cheese connoisseur looking for a knowledgeable cafe/retailer in the City or a cheese newbie who wants to leave the beginners pool of cheddar and mozzarella then I can thoroughly recommend “Cheese” to you. Tempted beyond endurance I bought a selection of cheeses, and accessories, to start me off on the road from cheese-novice to cheese-ninja!

Other events in the Market this week include the variously bearded bohemians who make up the lunchtime folk musicians and apparently on Thursday beloved London Mayor BoJo will be making an appearance at some point as part of his admirable display of support for Saint George’s Day events in London although it’s pretty unlikely that he was English and it’s quite possible he didn’t set foot in England at all. Never mind, let’s not quibble over the details.