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John Frater is an innovative plantsman, landscape and garden designer, and the man behind the popular Council-owned traffic island at the foot of Broughton Street.

Mark Lazarowicz MP has secured a promise of ministerial help to improve superfast broadband connectivity in parts of the capital.

The application to demolish the end-of-terrace house at 91 Annandale Street and build a modern replacement has been refused (Ref. 13/02489/FUL).

York Place reopened to traffic on Friday (4 months ahead of schedule), and residents in parallel streets to the north are now keener than ever for things to return to the way they were before diversions.

Residents and workers in properties surrounding Northumberland Street North West Lane are up in arms at a proposed new mews development in their midst (Ref. 13/03480/FUL). 

Union Gallery’s Autumn Exhibition is a mixed bag. Containing works from some 16 (mostly familiar) contemporary artists, there is no prevailing theme or style. What follows, then, are this reviewer’s personal highlights.

Celebrating half a century in business, Real Foods is putting out the bunting today at its Broughton Street store.

First operating as a market stall in the south of England, the company helped fuel the Aldermaston ‘Ban the Bomb’ marchers in the 1960s as they set off from a country house in the Chilterns. Around that time, it was also among the first in the UK to import macrobiotic foods from Belgium and Japan.

Spurtle received the following email on 30 August, from a named individual with strong local connections. For a good reason known to us, they prefer to remain anonymous.

Stockbridge Pipe Band has returned triumphant from the last major competition of the season, having won the European and Cowal Championships to be crowned Grade 3B 2013 Champion of Champions, writes Pipe Major Euan Whitmore.

The band was formed in 1994, and in 2008 was crowned Grade 4B Champion of Champions after winning four of the five Championships including the coveted World Title.

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