Gustav Temple samples the flaming fare at Brighton’s hottest new restaurant. It was opening night at Embers, a discreet bistro tucked away in one of the Venice-like passageways of the Brighton Lanes that are so easy to get lost in. I believe, though may be mistaken, that the previous incumbent was one of those out-of-date… … Keep Reading
Another successful saunter sans purpose through the sunny streets of Old London Town. On Sunday 14th May, just one week after the coronation of Charles III, a very different kind of event, yet one steeped in as much ritual, tradition and protocol, took place. The Grand Flaneur Walk was not placing a crown of gold… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple meets The Chap’s new timepiece collaborators, Jerome Robert and Anneke Short, founders of the Camden Watch Company. We first encountered the Camden Watch Company in 2017, when they had recently launched their ambitious company into a crowded market. The original aim of the brand was to use the founders’ extensive knowledge of design… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple and Alexander Larman take an early Christmas lunch at the Lanesborough Grill on Hyde Park Corner. Larman is usually a punctual chap, but on this occasion he was late for our appointment with victuals at Hyde Park Corner. He had relayed some vaguely literary excuse, something about watching and writing about a documentary… … Keep Reading
Chris Sullivan visits the Mediterranean island under British rule from 1800-1964, but finds the local culture far more illuminating. Ever since I started running Soho nightclubs in 1980 I’ve wanted to visit Malta. At that time, Soho was virtually controlled by such larger-than-life Maltese characters such as Big Frank Mifsud, and they intrigued me. I… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple bespeaks a two-piece suit from bespoke tailors Pratt & Prasad, and finds that having a suit made reveals a lot more about the man underneath it than his sartorial preferences. As I meander along the fully gentrified upper regions of St John’s Hill, Clapham, it occurs to me that seeing a tailor is… … Keep Reading
Paul Stafford on keeping his mettle as the most flamboyant dresser in Belfast for the last thirty years. Photos by Lee Mitchell. Are you Belfast born and bred? I was born and bred in Belfast, growing up on the Falls Road in the west of the city. Carnaby Street it was not, but in spite… … Keep Reading
Chris Sullivan follows in the footsteps of James Brooke to discover the lost secrets of Sarawak on a truly incredible journey to Borneo. M first sight of Borneo was in a David Attenborough retrospective special. He visited the world’s third largest island in 1956, met tribes who seemed from another century and rescued a baby… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple braves vintage petrol fumes, spiky juniper bushes and an uphill country walk to sample the new Levin Down Gin from the Goodwood Estate. Scanning the Chichester railway car park for the promised ‘classic vehicle’ that would take us to Goodwood House, I didn’t spy any vintage Daimlers, Alvises or Bentleys. There was a… … Keep Reading
The Chap meets the star of a new live comedy show opening at Edinburgh Fringe this August, who greets the public outside chain stores in his spare time. Visitors to such salubrious establishments as B&Q, Wilko, Wetherspoons, Waitrose and TK Maxx recently may have enjoyed a cordial greeting as they entered, from a chap dressed… … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple meets Katie Thomas, founder and doyenne of vintage-style lingerie brand What Katie Did, champion of the vintage scene and the pioneer for a retrospective revolution in ladies undergarments. This interview first appeared in CHAP Spring 22. How did it all start for What Katie Did? In the mid 1990s, I started collecting pieces… … Keep Reading
Ahead of the Third Grand Flaneur Walk on Sunday 14th May 2023, we recall 2022’s dandified stroll sans destination. This year, after two years of not being permitted to wander anywhere, with or without destination, a large number of flaneurs pressed their pantaloons, polished their canes and cultivated new buttonholes again, in preparation for the… … Keep Reading