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News, views, city updates and more... to keep you going
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NOVEMBER ISSUE | OUT AND ABOUT & LOOKING GOOD
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| Our November issue is OUT NOW... |
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As always, there's a lot of great reading by our team of wonderful writers and contributors as well as beautifully presented advertising by Bath's best businesses. We hope you'll enjoy the read. Every month 15,000 copies are delivered door to door and, until mid month, copies can be picked up at many places around town and from our stands at the main supermarkets: Waitrose, Sainsbury's (Green Park Station), M&S Foods (Twerton)... And we have just added Tesco Weston village.
Alternatively visit our website to read online.
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SHOPPING | INDULGE THE DAPPER
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A Bath-based men's accessories company has launched just in time for the gifting season. Offering 100% silk pocket squares, printed and woven neckties and evening scarves – all produced using UK printers, weavers and makers – these dapper details will embolden any man's wardrobe.
This men's accessories company was born during the lockdown. Co-founders Andy Thomas (Bath, UK) and Neil Fortin (Boston, USA) had spoken for years about turning their passion for the sartorial splendour of menswear into a venture of their own. When everything stopped in March, the stillness afforded them the time to develop their ideas. Thomas Fortin can now offer beautiful fabrics woven and printed in England, and hand-finished accessories, to the world.
Pocket squares from £38; www.thomasfortin.com
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MIDWEEK RECIPE | SWEET SEASONAL DELIGHT
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| Recipe by Melissa Blease |
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| Pumpkin Pie |
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Carving up a pumpkin in readiness for the impending Halloween shenanigans? Don't throw away all that lovely fruity flesh! You could use it to make a nourishing soup, or a vegetable curry, or even hummus. Or you could go full-on trick or treat and make a classic Pumpkin Pie...
Ingredients (makes one large pie, serves 6-8)
750g pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
140g caster sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp fresh nutmeg, grated
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
25g butter, melted
175ml whole milk
1 tbsp icing sugar
350g sweet shortcrust pastry (shop bought is fine!)
Method
- Put the pumpkin chunks in a large saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil and allow to simmer for around 15-20 minutes, until just tender. Drain well and allow to cool in the colander.
- Roll the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use it to line a 22cm loose-bottomed or springform tart tin. Allow to chill for 15 mins while you heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4.
- Line the pastry case with baking parchment and baking beans and bake for 15 mins. Remove the beans and paper and cook for a further 10 mins until the base is pale golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
- Increase oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7. Mash the cooled pumpkin through a sieve into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, salt, nutmeg and half the cinnamon with the beaten eggs, melted butter and milk. Stir well, then add the pumpkin purée and mix all the ingredients together until well combined.
- Pour the mixture into the pastry case and cook for 10 mins before reducing the heat to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4 and baking for a further 35-40 mins until the filling has just set.
- Allow the pie to cool, remove from the tin, mix the remaining cinnamon with the icing sugar and use it to dust the top of the pie. Serve chilled with double cream or ice cream.
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HALLOWEEN | WHERE TO PICK YOUR PUMPKINS
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| Bath's best pumpkin patches |
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OBJECT OF INTEREST | IMPECCABLE STYLE
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| Tudor Black Bay GMT Steel |
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Inspired by the Tudor watches of the 1950s, the famous Black Bay divers' watch is available with a GMT function, so it's easy to operate across different time zones without the need for an hour hand adjustment. Sporting a 41mm steel case, luminous markers and a distinctive burgundy and blue aluminium bezel, (shown here with the fabric Nato strap option) the characteristic angular hands known to collectors as "Snowflake" first appeared in Tudor's 1969 ranges. Powered by Tudor's excellent in-house MT5652 automatic self-winding movement, the watch also features a large crown and is waterproof to 200 metres. See this model and many variations at Mallory.
mallory-jewellers.com
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ON THE BOOKSHELF | STRICTLY ENTERTAINING
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| Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide To Happiness |
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This West Country boy might have settled down amid the bright lights of London, but comedian, musician and actor Bill Bailey still belongs to Bath. He’s hitting the headlines at the moment, part of the Strictly Come Dancing cast for 2020, and he has a new book out, Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to Happiness.
Don’t worry, there’s no ‘this is how to be a better person’ advice here. From paddle-boarding down the Thames in a Santa hat, to wild swimming in a glacial river, Bill ruminates on the exhilaration of the outdoors, as well as the quieter pleasures of clearing out your moth-eaten grey t-shirts. We’ve managed to get our hands on the chapter on Dancing – and what better way to embrace that feeling of happy? Bill has even drawn some pictures specially.
Enjoy a four minute read here
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MIDWEEK WINES | PICK OF THE YEAR
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Every year The Great Wine Company's fine wine manager, Tom King, selects the pick of their range that he's tasted in the past 12 months.
This year, top producers that have been added to the Great Wine Co.'s portfolio include New Zealand's Seresin Estate, the esteemed Burgundian house of Joseph Drouhin, Western Australia's Swinney Vineyards, and a couple of Spanish stars in Juan Gil and Scala Dei.
There's very good wines to be tried and, as always, good savings with the multi-buy options.
Image (L–R): Leah Pinot Noir, Seresin Estate, £19.95; Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Joseph Drouhin, £14.40; Cartoixa, Scala Dei, £44.00
Explore the range at The Great Wine Co.
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LOOKING BACK | FOND FOODIE MEMORIES
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Pasta Galore
From somewhere around the late 1980s/very start of the 1990s up until 2006, a tiny little downhome bistro on Barton Street flew the flag for pasta dishes in myriad (but entirely familiar) incarnations, thereby fully living up to the restaurant's name: Pasta Galore.
Owned by two sisters (I'm sure one of them was called Celia) with a love of all-things-Italian, this welcoming little haven of la dolce vita was, to Bath, what countless mid-town diners are to New York, or The Chelsea Kitchen was to London's Kings Road, or Bistrot Victoires is to Paris: the place to go when you didn't know where you wanted to go but you knew that you didn't want to cook at home.
It could best be described as a home from home experience... especially if one of your homes happened to be a shared student house during the 1970s. Dusty whitewash covered up various lumps and bumps on the walls, lively modern art was probably intended to further distract you from various structural 'oversights', a big open fire added warmth on chilly days and chunky but rickety furniture more or less served a more or less comfortable purpose, depending on which table you sat at. I can't remember if the courtyard garden outback was utilised to the same degree that Pintxo utilises it now (and, before Pintxo, Bistro la Barrique, which magpied into Pasta Galore's vacated nest around 2006)... but I can easily remember the food.
Until my first visit to Pasta Galore, I'd never tasted pesto made with lavish amounts of pine nuts and properly fresh basil. I didn't know what real tasted like, or that cream had no part to play in a proper carbonara, or that bolognese sauce should be mingled with spaghetti rather than plonked on top of it in a mean little smear as most spag bols were presented at the time. Okay, so presentation was, erm, functional, but portions were hearty, and there was a warmth at the heart of the matter that easily compensated for a chipped dish or a meatball dropped in your lap during service... as did the bill: £3.40 for a Caprese salad starter? £5.90 for that bolognese? £8 for a bottle of very, very good Chianti? Even by 1998 standards, we were on bargain territory here.
Ah, Pasta Galore: an easygoing institution in which to party on with friends or console yourself with comforting, reliably good grub – fond memories indeed.
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FOODIE DELIGHTS | A BATHONIAN LUNCH BREAK
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| Best of British Deli |
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What owner Sarah doesn't know about filling a decent sarnie (or baking a perfect cake, for that matter) at this paean to locally sourced good taste at the epicentre of the Broad Street 'strip' just isn’t worth knowing – but if you think you know all there is to know about classics such as the simple egg mayonnaise/ham and mustard/Cheddar and chutney combinations, prepare to go back to sandwich school here. The Coronation Chicken, meanwhile, is worthy of a seal of royal approval, and breakfast butties offer a classy wake up call. Business lunch delivery/bespoke catering service available too.
bestofbritishdeli.co.uk
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| Intermezzo Express |
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If you can't find exactly what you want to fill your bread, baguette, wrap, rustic ciabatta or hot panini at this lively little Barton Street deli, just throw an imaginary dart onto the menu – whatever combination ensues, you're guaranteed sandwich success. But if you've left your imaginary dart behind, specials such as The Rodeo, The Julius and The Colorado Club are sure to satisfy, while sumptuous salads (including a build-your-own option) ensure all bases are covered.
intermezzoexpress.com
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| The Whole Bagel |
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Bath's only dedicated bagel shop has the whole bagel thing (six varieties to choose from, alongside wrap, baguette and GF options) fully loaded from speedy breakfast bagels to the silky, sumptuous smoked salmon and cream cheese combo via tantalisers such as the Mighty Swiss, the Chicken Caesar, myriad Gourmet Specials and the classic pastrami, which brings an authentic taste of NYC to Upper Borough Walls.
thewholebagel.co.uk
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| Thyme Deli |
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Myriad choice of fillings, multiple vehicles in which to load 'em up (breads, baguettes, wraps, etc) and always, always service with a smile at this popular Westgate Street lunch-to-go pitstop. If you fancy a change from the classic combos involving cheese, ham, roast beef, egg, etc, the falafel, hummus and roasted Mediterranean vegetable is truly scrumptious and there are usually jacket potatoes on the menu too.
facebook.com/Thyme-Deli
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RICHARD WYATT DEBATES | OUR GREEN SPACES
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| ..."A green enclosed space to park your bike, or sit and chat. Will the idea catch on in Bath?"... |
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Okay, citizens of Bath, l am about to introduce you to a new word and it's one which describes installations which will aim to transform some of our normally traffic-crowded inner-city streets. The word is 'parklets'. There you are, l have said it, now get yourself over to Kingsmead Square and you'll see these novel additions to the scene now offering new places to sit or park your bike in both the surrounding Trinity and Avon Streets.
According to Wikipedia, a 'parklet' is a non-permanent extension to the pavement that provides more space and amenities for people using the street. Additional public spaces for passersby to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the city around them.
San Francisco claims the credit for coming up with this street 'intervention' idea when urban activists took over a parking space where – after feeding the meter they laid a carpet of turf and put a potted tree on top. Since then a more official version has been rolled out around the world – everywhere from London to Mexico and Melbourne, Australia.
It's a subtle way of claiming back more of the street for people and is a great catalyst when it comes to attracting customers for shops and even encouraging community conversation. A green enclosed space to park your bike, or sit and chat. Will the idea catch on in Bath? Maybe their introduction at this time of the year – when the weather is poor and Covid-19 still on the rampage – was not the best timed plan. However, with our hopes for spring, better weather and a blue-sky vaccine-break in our viral gloom, they could prove their worth and pave the way for more of the same as the city strives to clean up its environmental act.
bathnewseum.com
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CITY NEWS | A GRAND DEVELOPMENT
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There’s work afoot on the structural development of Bath, and the Bath Quays development has long been dominating the conversation. The grand plan involves a complex series of intersecting projects so if you’re unclear about what’s happening, where we’re at and what’s to come, here's an overview.
Enjoy our five minute read
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ON THE BOX | A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER
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| The Undoing: Season One (2020) |
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The Undoing follows Grace Fraser, who is a successful therapist on the brink of publishing her first book, has a devoted husband, and a young son who attends an elite private school in New York City. Weeks before her book is published, however, a chasm opens in her life.
Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster, and horrified by the ways in which she has failed to heed her own advice, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and herself.
This American psychological thriller is based on the 2014 novel You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz. The series stars Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, and Donald Sutherland is directed by Susanne Bier.
Watch it on Sky Atlantic now
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INTERIORS | LUXURY AROMATIC CANDLES
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The luxury skin care brand are introducing a new addition to their Home Care range: Aesop Aromatique Candles.
Created with long-term collaborator Barnabé Fillion, the Aromatique Candles offer a means of adding subtle light as well as nuanced, lingering fragrances to any interior. Each of the three candles bears the name of an astronomer of ancient repute – Aganice, Callippus and Ptolemy, respectively – alluding to the capacity of candlelight to evoke a calming sense of wonder, much like a radiant night sky. Aromatique Candles are the perfect winter warmer and offer refuge from workday concerns.
Candles from £80; available online and at Aesop Bath store.
aesop.com/uk
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PROPERTY UPDATE | NEW TO THE MARKET
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Currently on sale by estate agents Andrews, this fine two bedroom apartment has a real sense of Georgian Bath inside and out. Occupying the first floor of a Grade II listed townhouse built in 1770s, the apartment has period features throughout, with tall sash windows, wooden shutters, cornicing and a fireplace. The drawing room is an impressive size and the main bedroom has three sash windows to the rear, and there's a further study or occasional second bedroom. The bathroom is also beautifully finished and includes a roll-top bath. Plus, there's a huge benefit of having a private parking space to the rear. On the market at £315,000.
For further information, contact Andrews; andrewsonline.co.uk
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