Party-loving David Pun finds fame in Queensway’s Food Basics Oriental Superstore for all the wrong reasons; for him, it’s a far cry from Harvey Nicks
David Pun is well known on London’s party scene and for the claims he makes about his connections to the families that own Harvey Nichols and The Peninsula Hotels. Like fellow liggers Sandra Shevey and Dennis Doble, he’s extremely partial to a gift bag but now, it seems, he’s achieved fame at the Food Basics Oriental Superstore in Queensway, W2 also.
Spotted by a reader on Sunday, Mr Pun features in a picture montage on a wall of the shop in images taken from the supermarket’s CCTV footage.
When asked why the pictures were there, a worker remarked: “Shoplifting happens a lot here” but declined to comment on exactly what the assorted selection of visitors had been helping themselves to.
Purpose-built Upper East Side, NYC Beaux Arts garage reduced in price by 41%; it will still cost around £40 million to buy and turn into a vast single family residence
Purpose built in 1906 to house the cars of wealthy (but not quite so wealthy enough to have their own carriage houses) Upper Eastsiders, 177 – 179 East 73rd Street in New York is a five-storey Beaux Arts structure that is described as “unusually sophisticated”.
Reduced from a completely unrealistic £39.8 million ($50 million, €47 million or درهم183.6 million) when first marketed in 2015 to £23.5 million ($29.5 million, €27.7 million or درهم108.4 million) today, estimates put the cost of converting the building to a single townhouse at upto £15.9 million ($20 million, €18.8 million or درهم73.5 million).
Featuring a granite and limestone façade, 177 – 179 East 73rd Street has ceiling heights that range from 12’7” to 17’, is 40’ wide and provides 17,232 square foot of internal space. Though plans have been drawn up to turn it into a vast 8-beroom residence complete with a 8-car garage, basketball court and home cinema, rival agent Jed Garfield of Leslie J. Garfield, told The Real Deal: “I think it’s still overpriced. The only surprising thing is that they’re now willing to sell it at [closer to] market price” late last week.
The building – which remains in use as a UES garage – is listed by Carrie Chiang of Corcoran and is described as “just waiting to undergo a metamorphosis in the hands of a discerning buyer”.
Image shows 177 – 179 East 73rd Street in 1906, 2017 and a rendering as a single family residence (left to right).
Federal-style New York townhouse for sale for £3.982 million; the West Village was previously the Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel
A 2,212 square foot townhouse dating to 1833 on sale in New York comes with quite a history. Built in the Federal-style by a cartman named John C. Blauvelt, the property subsequently became the Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel – a “home for aged male and female Hebrews” – in 1913 and was then converted to two residences in 1951.
232 West 10th Street, West Village, Manhattan, New York, NY 10014, United States of America
Reduced in price from £4.772 million ($5.975 million, €5.630 million or درهم21.946 million) to £3.982 million ($4.986 million, €4.698 million or درهم18.313 million), 232 West 10th Street in West Village, Manhattan currently remains as two units and comprises of 3 reception rooms, 2 kitchens, 2 offices, 2 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It could, however, easily be reconfigured back into a family home and comes with both a terrace and garden.
The house is offered by the Farah team at Compass Realty and is described as “a renovator’s dream”.
Whilst Theresa May’s Easter message is nothing but a damp squib, Jeremy Corbyn’s response is as much use as a chocolate teapot
“Let us come together… Let us build a stronger, fairer Britain that works for everyone”, clucked Theresa May on Sunday in a 3:10 minute Easter message posted on YouTube.
Mixing her Christian values with Brexit, the unelected Prime Minister went on about growing up in a vicarage and stood next to a wonky light fitting. She neglected to mention how the Mail on Sunday had exposed her “grubby, underhand deal” that sacrifices endangered species in favour of trade and growth and she said nothing of the failing inquiry into historic abuse that she’s already wasted over £100 million on.
In The Guardian, former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell took an axe to the message and lambasted it by commenting:
“I think even vicars’ daughters should be a little wary of allying their politics to their faith… She does not exactly say if God had a vote he would have voted Leave, but she gets closer to it than she should. If she really thinks she is leading a united country full of hope … I suggest she gets out more”.
He added:
“I don’t think I have ever known Britain more divided. As for her talk of compassion, community, citizenship and obligations to one another, she has taken an axe to those with regard to Britain’s relations to the rest of the world, and plenty of her domestic agenda points in the opposite direction”.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn responded by calling for “peace” and “reconciliation” but neither he nor Mrs May offer very much hope. God help us all and God help (once) Great Britain.
Northumbria revealed to be the county with the highest number of fines for women being drunk and disorderly for second year in a row
On Sunday, the Daily Star revealed “Northumbria has the highest number of women getting police penalties for their out-of-control behaviour”.
In an article by the paper’s Matthew Davis, it was reported that 359 misbehaviour £80 fines were handed to women in the area for being drunk and disorderly in 2015 and 27 of these went to teenage women.
In response, a police officer pointed to women being “just as bad” as men and remarked:
“Women can be just as bad if not worse than blokes now when it comes to their late-night drunken behaviour. People might laugh at the pictures of women half-naked, lying across the pavement, paralytic from booze. But it isn’t funny and can end up having serious consequences for the person concerned”.
Picturesque watermill used in ‘The Witchfinder General’ and ‘Dad’s Army’ for sale
Witches and water don’t have an affinity – with dunking being a common form of punishment for suspects in the 16th and 17th centuries – and at The Watermill on the River Black Bourn at Ixworth in Suffolk, just such activity occurred in the 1968 film The Witchfinder General.
The Watermill, which is now for sale for £1 million ($1.3 million, €1.2 million or درهم4.6 milllion) through Savills, was also a location in the popular BBC series Dad’s Army and of this property, which until recently was used as a holiday rental, the corporation’s Martha Kearney once remarked: “I can’t think of a more enchanted summer evening than sitting outside the Mill, gazing across the water lilies on the pond to the beautiful island beyond”.
The Watermill prior to renovation
A working mill from 1800 until 1946, the 5,848 square foot, three floor building comes with detailed restrictions about how it could be altered given it is Grade II* listed but currently provides 3 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
Previously rented from £1,450 to £3,000 per week depending on season, The Watermill is situated on a three acre plot that includes a picturesque lily-covered mill pond with island and mill race. An outbuilding has lapsed planning permission for conversion into ancillary accommodation whilst the former mill itself retains much of its original machinery.
Whilst the problem play The Goat, or who is Sylvia? – which, in a 2017 adaptation, starred Damian Lewis as a man who falls head over heels for a goat named Sylvia – shocked many, pensioner Carol Bowditch is a true life example of someone whom repeatedly engaged in carnal activities with animals. Spared jail for being filmed having penetrative vaginal and oral sex with a St Bernard, a black Labrador and an Alsatian in April 2017, Mrs Bowditch of Evedon, Lincolnshire bizarrely claimed: “I was unaware it was illegal”. After giving her a given a community order with 12 months supervision and a 16 week night-time curfew, Judge Michael Heath concluded: “I am told that you have received public humiliation as a result of the publicity that this case has attracted. That does not surprise me”.
Firezza’s first “proper restaurant” in Dean Street, Soho offers gourmet pizza by-the-metre at remarkably reasonable prices; it is a must visit
Edin Basic can be credited with changing the way Brits order pizza. Prior to his arrival in London from war torn Bosnia some twenty-five years ago, home delivered pizza was – if it ever arrived – greasy, cold and pretty unimaginative.
Replacing ham and pineapple as the most exotic thing on the menu with an aim to “create the best pizza in the world”, Mr Basic travelled to Naples, learnt from the best and brought his vision to West London. In 2001, Firezza was born and in the years that followed he built up a 17-site business that was sold to Pizza Express in 2016. He is still part of the operation and is currently expanding the business nationwide and, with a few twists, into China also.
On Wednesday this week, Basic’s journey took a new turn when Firezza opened their first “proper restaurant” in Dean Street, Soho. Featuring the by-the-metre, fire-baked gourmet pizza that customers of the firm’s delivery service have so-loved for nearly two decades, this anything but fussy venue served around 800 on its first day but was still able to provide quality at affordable prices.
Ranging from a margherita for just £5.95 through to a capricciosa for £7.65, Firezza Dean Street is a restaurant that won’t break the bank but equally won’t disappoint. Aside from the freshest ingredients, with an open kitchen and a stunning space pod like Marana Forni pizza oven, watching the chefs work is akin to a ballet performance. Perfectly organised and planned to ensure pizza-to-table in around five minutes, Basic’s team are efficiency to the tee.
House red and house white wines are also perfectly quaffable but, as my companion waxed lyrical all the way home, it’s the cannolo that’ll bring you back again and again. Three of these Sicilian delights will set you back just £2.50.
Firezza, 22 – 25 Dean Street, London, W1D 3RY. Open Sunday to Thursday from 10am until 12 midnight; open Friday and Saturday 10am until 1am.
A 20-question interview with contemporary artist Alexander Newley
The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?
Eros, anger, anxiety, love – in perfect and contradictory admixture.
“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?
When fate raises its sword to make you tremble, go forth into it and you will find bliss.
Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2017?
Who’s that? Cancer/Steve Bannon – basically the same thing…
Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?
No missing – still on target.
What might you swap all your wealth for?
I have no material wealth. Health and creativity is ALL, although I’d like some new drapes in the kitchen.
Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?
The dollar rocketed when Trump came in. Need we say more?
What phrase or word do you most loathe?
“The UK” delivered in a peppy, north London accent and “Your call is very important to us, please stay on the line…”
In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?
I couldn’t agree more. Everything is a spiral: work from the centre out. I have just raised a fair bit for the St. Martin-in-the-Fields homeless charity through the auction of my paintings.
The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?
A necessary evil. Can you imagine life before? The carousel goes faster and faster and we have to find a way to stay on it. That said, the counter-revolution: silence, mindfulness, not giving a fig is pretty good, too.
Portraits of Dominick Dunne (1925 – 2009) and Sir Nigel Hawthorne CBE (1929 – 2001) by Alexander Newley
If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?
Shakespeare (of course), Oscar (of course), Churchill (large brandy in hand), Chaplin (tearing tickets), my father (Anthony Newley), Sheela (my love), Ava (my daughter), Freud x2 (grandfather and grandson) and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (for perfect Surrealism).
If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?
A tuna melt with ketchup, on the undercliff in Lyme Regis, watching the sun sink on a balmy summer’s eve.
What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?
10:45am (if it be a mixture of German dessert wine and seltzer).
A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?
Tea please, milk, no sugar (although I want the sugar).
Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?
I rarely enjoy them because I don’t go to enough, and you have to invest in the social whirl before it pays back. I’m still working on that—but I did have a pretty good time at Hugh Hefner’s once.
Who is the most positive person you know?
Myself, although periodically encumbered by massive humbug.
What’s your most guilty pleasure?
The occasional bout of self-love.
If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?
A minotaur rampart on a bed of roses.
If you were a car, what marque would you be?
A prototype Isotta Fraschini. Only two were made and one crashed at very high speed.
Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.
I can identify almost anyone from the back; the habit of a portraitist.
What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?
Two vases of anemonies, one tall one short.
Alexander Newley is a contemporary artist. His subjects have numbered Steven Berkoff, Christopher Reeve, Oliver Stone, Gore Vidal and Billy Wilder and his work features in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Born white in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany in 1989, but now perceived by many to be black, “pneumatic chested” Martina Big increased her cleavage to a 32S and “turned her pale skin a deep mahogany shade that draws stares from strangers everywhere she goes”. A former air hostess turned glamour model, Miss Big appeared on ITV1’s This Morning in April 2017 and alongside her equally tanned partner, Michael, curiously announced: “I love being an exotic Barbie”. On her website, this Katie Price fan goes further and proclaims: “My motto is ‘Big is not big enough!’”
