London Lifestyle Awards 2011 winners revealed

By Mark Kebble on October 7th 2011

Settling down for a glass of wine on the fifth floor of Aqua Spirit in Soho is an apt place to meet with the London Lifestyle Awards founder, Jason Gale. Behind the bar is a shiny London Lifestyle Award for Best Bar in 2010 – and the fact that this sensational venue lost out to a grittier east London opponent in this year’s awards suggests the level of competition in the capital. For Jason, however, that’s exactly the reason why London remains the best city in the world…

The difficult ‘second’ event

Archant London, this magazine’s parent company, instantly connected with Jason’s vision of creating an awards ceremony that celebrated the capital’s diversity and were impressed with what was achieved in 2010. “I was aware of the fact that there were a lot of people that came the first year and I didn’t want to just repeat the process. I wanted them to come into the room and think that we had moved on,” Jason says. “The feedback I have received suggests we achieved that.”

October 6 was the date when London’s finest converged on the Riverbank Park Plaza for the second London Lifestyle Awards, with guest numbers clearly up and a smoother ceremony, presided over by radio presenter and comic, Greg Burns. “I think there was also more excitement in the room,” adds Jason, “and most of all that message that we were here to celebrate London came across better this year.”

The riots and London’s spirit

Just two weeks before Jason and his team hosted a special shortlist party, London was brought to a standstill by widespread rioting. As the troubles gathered pace, so journalists from all corners approached the London Lifestyle Awards team for comment. “We talk about London all year long and our love for it, and it’s good that people wanted to know what we thought about it.

“It was a very disturbing thing to happen, but good has come out of it. What we saw in those weeks is so many people celebrating London. On Twitter people changed their icons to ‘I Love London’ and you saw a lot of T-shirts on the streets saying just that. We call it the Blitz mentality and long may it continue. When somebody does try to fight against our lifestyle, we go, ‘Actually, no, you are not going to do that. We are stronger than you’.”

The highlight

To accentuate the fact that the majority of Londoners stood up for what was right, one of the highlights of the 2011 London Lifestyle Awards linked directly back to the rioting. “Pauline Pearce,” Jason smiles about his stand-out moment. The ‘Hackney Heroine’ became a media sensation for standing up to rioters on her own. “When I saw Pauline Pearce doing that, I realised she was trying to protect a particular London lifestyle and I felt she needed rewarding.”

Guest of honour at the show, the London Lifestyle Awards team laid on all the works for Pauline ahead of the event – but then Jason was stopped in his tracks. “I saw her singing on BBC London one night and she had an amazing voice,” he explains. Jason gave Pauline the stage and her singing received a standing ovation from all at the event. “Sinitta [a major supporter of the awards] heard her sing and was incredibly impressed, and she has since had a meeting with Pauline to discuss how to progress her music career.” Watch this space.

Surprise, surprise

“Hootananny was a big surprise for me because I don’t know Brixton that well,” Jason says when our discussion turns to the overall winners. Walking away with the award for best Live Music Venue of the Year, beating the likes of the mighty O2, it also showed how in its second year the London Lifestyle Awards has spread its wings. “Last year the old favourites were getting talked about time and time again. For instance, Hootananny didn’t even get nominated last year. In 2011 a music club down in Brixton gets nominated and ends up winning an award.”

Some 187,000 people voted for their personal winners, up 87,000 on last year, and whereas central London dominated in 2010, the likes of Hootananny and north London-based Bolongaro Trevor showed how the awards spread its wings. “Fifty years ago if you wanted great food, great theatre, or great coffee, you had to be in central London,” Jason reflects. “Now you don’t – we have neighbourhoods that produce world class restaurants.” Which leads us nicely to…

The winners

Green Contribution of the Year

WINNER: BARCLAYS CYCLE HIRE (www.tfl.gov.uk)

Nominated: Open Air Theatre Regents Park, Notting Hill Carnival (M2K), The O2, The Big Issue, Cameron Mackintosh – Theatre Producers, Really Useful Group, Shaftesbury PLC

Fashion Retailer of the Year

WINNER: BOLONGARO TREVOR (1 Academy Buildings, Fanshaw Street, N1 6LQ, 020 7502 5502, www.bolongarotrevor.com)

Nominated: Ad Hoc, Gieves and Hawkes, Jeffery West, Quontum, Udeshi, Twenty8Twelve, Lucy In Disguise, Mark Powell    

Coffee Shop of the Year

WINNER: BENUGO CAFÉ & DELI (www.benugo.com)

Nominated: Bar Italia, Jack's Tea & Coffee House, Konditor & Cook, Napket, Patisserie Valerie, Wafflemeister

Hotel of the Year

WINNER: SANCTUM SOHO HOTEL (20 Warwick Street, W1B 5NF, 020 7292 6100, www.sanctumsoho.com)

Nominated: The Dukes Hotel, The Goring, Raddison Edwardian Hampshire Hotel, Hotel Rafayel, The Dorchester, W Hotel

Cultural Attraction of the Year

WINNER: VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM (Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL, 020 7942 2000 www.vam.ac.uk)

Nominated: Kensington Gardens (Historical Royal Places), Notting Hill Carnival (M2K), Open Air Theatre, Southbank Centre, St Pauls Cathedral, The Tower of London, Trafalgar Square

Sports Attraction of the Year

WINNER: MINT POLO IN THE PARK (www.polointheparklondon.com)

Nominated: The Docklands Sailing & Watersports, Centre, Marylebone Cricket Club, The Hurlingham Club, Twickenham Stadium, All England Club

Health and Fitness Facility of the Year

WINNER: THE THIRD SPACE (www.thethirdspace.com)

Nominated: Club Kensington, Good Vibes Fitness, Soho Gyms, Spa At Hotel Rafayel, The Chelsea Club

Live Music Venue of the Year

WINNER: HOOTANANNY (95 Effra Road, SW2 1DF, 020 7737 7273, www.hootanannybrixton.co.uk)

Nominated: The Dover Street Restaurant & Bar, Koko, McQueen, Ronnie Scott’s, Proud (Camden), The Borderline, The O2, C.A.M.P

Theatre Show of the Year

WINNER: THE LION KING (www.disney.co.uk/musicaltheatre/TheLionKing)

Nominated: Billy Elliot, Dirty Dancing, Jersey Boys, Les Miserables, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, We Will Rock You, Wicked, The Wizard Of Oz, Mamma Mia

Hairdresser of the Year

WINNER: ERROL DOUGLAS (18 Motcomb Street, SW1X 8LB, 020 7235 0110, www.erroldouglas.com)

Nominated: Leticia Haute Coiffure, MACS Salon, Stuart Phillips, Ian Carmicheal, Taylor Taylor London

Restaurant of the Year

WINNER: SEARCY’S AT THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY (St Martin’s Place, WC2H 0HE, 020 7312 2490, www.searcys.co.uk/national-portrait-gallery)

Nominated: Aqua Nueva, Bennett Oyster Bar, Cinnamon Kitchen and Anise, Daphne's, Geales Restaurant, Grand Brasserie and Champagne Bar, Kyashii Restaurant, Brasserie and Lounge, Layalina, McQueen, Paramount, Quo Vadis, The Rivington Grill

Concierge Company of the Year

WINNER: QUINTESSENTIALLY (www.quintessentially.com)

Nominated: Bon Vivant, Cushion The Impact, The Fixer Concierge, Ten Group, Elect Club Ltd, Personal Time Saver Ltd, Innerplace, Sincura

Bar of the Year

WINNER: MCQUEEN (55-60 Tabernacle Street, EC2A 4AA, 020 7036 9229, www.mcqueen-shoreditch.co.uk)

Nominated: Aqua Spirit, Artisan & Vine, Gherkin, Paramount, Proud (Camden), Purl London, Quo Vadis, The Rooftop At The Sanctum, St Pancras Grand Brasserie & Champagne Bar, The Dover Street Restaurant & Bar, The Hoxton Pony

Club of the Year

WINNER: PUBLIC (533 Kings Road, SW10 0TZ, 020 7751 4400, www.london.public.uk.com)

Nominated: Altitude, Bond, Embassy, Movida, McQueen, Merah Club, The Box Club, The Roof Gardens

Members Club of the Year

WINNER: HOME HOUSE (20 Portman Square, W1H 6LW, 020 7670 2000, www.homehouse.co.uk)

Nominated: Adam Street Private Members Club, Eight Members Club, Marton’s Club, Quo Vadis, Crazy Bear, The Hospital Club, Union Club

Outstanding Contribution to London

WINNER: CHRISTOPHER MORAN

Nominated: Open Air Theatre Regents Park, Notting Hill Carnival (M2K), The O2, Barclay Cycle Hire – TFL, The Big Issue, Cameron Mackintosh – Theatre Producers, Really Useful Group, Shaftesbury PLC

Personality of the Year

WINNER: CAROLINE MONK

Nominated: Zoe Griffin, Daniel Priestley, Eric Yu, Mark Fuller, Rick Parfitt Junior, Mark Powell, Boris Johnson, Nick House, Henry Conway, Nick Ede, Guy West, Christopher Moran

Finally

So what does next year hold in store? “We have been contacted by two TV companies who are talking about covering the awards because it is a big celebrity event,” Jason answers, “and we have the confidence now to go even bigger.”

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