beetroot’s Leonard Street location embodies all of the best things about the capital, says Susan Soper
London is so varied that working in the West End is a world away from The City, and Crouch End is on a different planet to Clerkenwell.
I’ve worked in all these places and loved them all in different ways.
Soho is fabulous, though you do tend to trip over the tourists. Clerkenwell has great bars and the best Italian delis, and for five years I was deep in the City, head down, brolly up, marching over London Bridge, but even that had an orderly appeal.
But there is something about Leonard Street that combines the best of them all. There are fewer suits than half a mile south, so it feels younger and more colourful, and as it is off the tourist trail, most people work or live here so know where they are going.
One of my colleagues (who understandably wishes to remain anonymous) says the street puts him in mind of the ‘who will buy?’ scene from Oliver, though I’ve yet to see any milkmaids or rose sellers.
It has its eyesores, there are some pretty uninspiring 70s blocks next to Hitchcock’s film reel sculpture where the couriers stop for a breather on the steps, but there are also plenty of elegant Victorian warehouses which have been converted into galleries and design shops.
St Michael’s church is now an architectural salvage treasure trove and above a rather good Spanish restaurant you’ll find beetroot’s base. A century ago 68 Leonard Street was a confectioner’s warehouse – and life on Leonard Street is still sweet.
