Open House London

Quite by chance I got to two of the Open House venues - not the much-sought-after, book-in-advance ones, but of interest in their own small ways.

The Goldsmiths Centre had, as well as an exhibiton of "40 jewellers, 40 years" which continues until 19 November, the barriers open so you could see the training facilities there. This machine caught my eye so I whipped out the notebook and quickly committed it to paper - before realising that though the camera had been left at home, the smartphone has a camera -

A series of offices/workrooms, with suspended glass sliding doors -

The oval table is massive, would seat 16 easily!

This peaceful, empty meeting room brought to mind the poem by William Stafford that begins "Starting here, what do you remember? / How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?" -

No poetic references for the other venue ... a 1900s butcher shop near to me, on a rather sad stretch of Hornsey Rise. 

The shop, W. Plumb, has been shut since 1992 and now its windows have an extra layer of frosted glass. Mr Travers, who now owns the shop, has been lovingly restoring it, and living in a flat in the building, since 1996. He and his partner did a splendid job taking the paint off the wooden cashier's box -

before

after

and sourcing Victorian tiles to repair the worst ravages to the floor -

The wall tiles and especially the painted panels are what make the shop glorious -

Once there were two more of the "rural" panels, scenes from Hampstead Heath, on an island-counter on the other side of the room, but the island had to be replaced with a refrigerated cabinet and the panels were lost. 

The shop is available for parties, dinners, events, photo shoots, etc.