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D A N G E R O U SAirlines do an amazing job of catering for special diets. Th e major carriers off er a score or more choices for every sort of preference and penchant, ranging from religious exclusions and vegetarian options to meals that are just plain bland – reminiscent of the Goodness Gracious Me television comedy sketch, in which a group of raucous Bombay youths “Go for an English”, daring each other to order the blandest thing on the menu.

Yet the list of dietary exclusions and options continues to grow and expand like a gourmand’s waistline, making it ever more important that airline staff understand what exactly these dietary restrictions are, and why customers insist on them.

British Airways’ menus are typical of larger carriers fl ying out of the UK. BA currently has 18 meal options listed on its website, neatly divided into special meals and medical meals, any of which

The list of dietary exclusions continues to grow. Here is what airlines need to know

WORDS BY GUY DIMOND PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANIA WAWRZKOWICZ

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Overlooked as their glitzy cities prospered elsewhere Berlin’s Neukölln, Madrid’s Malasaña and Rome’s Pigneto were left in the dust for decades. Now, after some careful creative tuning, these once rough-and-tumble districts are stealing the show

78 Let’s go wITh RyANAIR 78 Let’s go wITh RyANAIR

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79BOOK NOw! GO TO ryanair.com

FlY RYAnAIR to bERlIn (SchönEFEld), RoME (cIAMpIno) And MAdRId i vISIT RYAnAIR.coM FoR MoRE InFoRMATIonurban renewal

bag one of naif’s outdoor tables to feel like you’re in madrid’s largest open-air living room

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urban renewalFlY RYAnAIR to MAdRId from 35 dESTInATIonS, including boloGnA | budApEST | cAGlIARI | dublIn | GRAn cAnARIA | london STAnSTEd | MARRAkESh | poRTo | SAnTAndER | TuRIn | vISIT RYAnAIR.coM FoR MoRE InFoRMATIon

madrid’s rebellious barrio, reborn

One of Madrid’s central areas, spread across the hilly inclines off the Gran Vía, Malasaña has long been a hotbed of non-conformist

activity. Thirty years ago, the city’s restless youth took to its tight cluster of brick lanes to unleash their angst-ridden punk music and artworks – born out of the 40 years of Franco’s dictatorship. And while its original rebels may have moved on, its mission to spread a different societal vision remains. Today, a new generation of entrepreneurs and artists is taking to those same streets, injecting a fresh energy through new and creative businesses.

Espíritu 23 (23 Calle Espíritu Santo, tel. +34 915 321849, espiritu23.com) was recently opened with a goal to aid the artistic and social development of the neighbourhood. It provides a space for professional and aspiring artists of all stripes, with hire-by-the-day workspaces, multi-lingual fine- and performance-art classes, and fashion design workshops. By night, local acting troupes give performances in the 170m2 basement space.

Two minutes up to Plaza de San Ildefonso, one-year-old Naif (16 San Joaquín, tel. +34 910 072071) serves its hip young crowd goblets of gin and tonics, Madrid’s drink du jour, along with tasty bar snacks. The industrial interior of exposed lead pipes and graffiti-scrawled walls may conjure up a New York artist’s loft, but bag one of its outdoor tables – spread generously across the square – to feel like you’re in Madrid’s largest open-air living room. The square is popular with young people who sit in groups sipping

beers and strumming guitars. Not surprisingly, this spot offers some of the city’s top people-watching.

Down the hill on buzzing Calle Barco, six-month-old Quel Bordel (40 Calle Barco, blog.quelbordel.es) is a pretty, petite fashion boutique stocking flirty dresses, weave tops and chunky heels from a some of Spain’s hot independent labels, such as diKsi and Lavand. Check out their funky collection of brass necklaces and slender bracelets, displayed on cracked wood, salvaged wardrobes.

For some of the district’s top plates, head to Ojalá (1 San Andrés, tel. +34 915 232747, grupolamusa.com). Malasaña restaurant gurus Grupo La Musa, who have a five-strong clutch of sceney eateries in the area, opened this vibrant spot eight years ago, with the intention of offering diners more than just a meal. The street-level dining space is inspired by the sun, so bright colours form the backdrop to chef Patricio Fonseca’s heaped plates of simple, inventive global fare, like cubed goat’s cheese salad served with tangy rocket and black olives. In the basement, it’s gone all beachy, with cushions positioned on a bed of sand. It’s as close to the sea as you’re likely to get in Madrid. Words by Scott Adams. Photos by Ana Zaragoza

ESpIRITu 23 AS SEEN

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These young opportunists are creating an enclave uniquely theirs in one of the world’s most defined cities

And when the Neukölln hipsters need to refuel, they snag one of the 40 hand-carved seats at simple, chic Sauvage (25 Pflügerstraße, tel. +49 (0)30 5316 7547, sauvageberlin.com). This concept restaurant honours the diet of our Palaeolithic ancestors, meaning a heap of organic vegetables, thick slabs of fresh meat, and absolutely no raw dairy, pasta, rice or sugar. The decor, like the food, is remarkably non-fussy: single wax candles warm the earthen stone walls, white cloth napkins adorn the bare-wood tables, atop which a duo of long-stemmed yellow roses lean together in clear glass vases. You don’t have to be hip to eat here, but it helps. Words by Conor Creighton. Photos by Guido Castagnoli

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SIMplE SAuVAGE

a former indusTrial hub becomes berlin’s new bohemia

T hese days, Berlin’s cachet of cool is located in a gritty quarter on the city’s south-west periphery. A former industrial hub, its rebirth

started roughly five years ago when Tempelhof airport closed down. Rents skyrocketed, workers moved out, and bohemians from neighbouring Kreuzberg, and abroad, started spilling in.

Today, these young opportunists are revitalising the area through fashion studios, artsy collectives and designer eateries, creating an enclave uniquely theirs in one of the world’s most defined cities.

Rag and Bone Man (9 Briesestraße) is one such instance. A stone’s throw from Neukölln’s main artery, Karl-Marx-Straße, this chic dress-up box of wooden floors and white-washed walls was started by a Brit and a Swede only a year ago. On top of the well-sourced stash of vintage clothing on the rails, owners Maggie Coker and Johanna Hagman draw crowds with their live-music basement parties, bake nights and book readings from local writers.

A five-minute stroll from here up the leafy Karl-Marx, and you’ll hit Sameheads (10 Richardstraße, tel. +49 (0)30 7012 1060, sameheads.com). Largely regarded as the progenitor of Neukölln’s renewal, Sameheads’s three British owners moved it from its original Kreuzberg spot two and a half years ago. The large industrial space is a mecca for creatives: a design lab, recording studio, bar, café and cinema are housed across the two floors. Quirky, themed, day-long DJ parties (come as your favourite dead celebrity) capture a fashion-minded, tattooed crowd who stay sipping whisky cocktails and beers into the wee hours.

Though it is not all so pop-and-bang. Calmer, more retreat-like respites have their place amid the masses. Located in a gingerbread brick building between a cemetery and a park, Agora Collective (50 Mittelweg, agoracollective.org) is a members-only art commune started by a patchwork team of Germans and Brazilians. Artists from around the world come to the bright, minimalist space to live, work and hold courses on everything from museum curating to yoga poses for the collective’s pack of eager young protégés.

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LIFEThe free colleague magazine Nov/Dec 2012

INSIDE YOUR

ASDALIFE MAGAZINE

ALL WE WANT FOR

ChristmasA round-up of festive treats, gifts, decorations and more

LIFE ON THE SHOP FLOORMeet two Watford colleagues

JUDITH McKENNA ON THE SPOTThe Golden Quarter

HOW WE HELPED BROOKE Our work within the local community

NEW LOOKcolleague magazine

LIFEThe free colleague magazine Jan/Feb 2013

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BREAD WINNERSBehind the scenes at the award-winning in-store bakery

MARATHON MAN NYC! Meet the colleague who ran the unofficial New York Marathon

TROLLEY TRYST Two store colleagues tie the knot in the Tyson Green trolley bay!

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All you need for a romantic night in, including gifts and the Extra Special meal deal

Cover feature

24 The Hotel Magazine June 2008

Cover feature

June 2008 The Hotel Magazine 25

Remote ControlFive-star B&BJan and John stockan holland house If you want to know what nationality of visitor is staying at Holland House, you need only look to the front garden. For while Jan Stockan takes care of guests, husband John is keeper of the flagpole, raising the appropriate ensign for every arrival.

“He’s got a whole drawerful,” says Jan. “It’s quite a talking point. The neighbours sometimes have to look the flags up on the Internet.”

It’s hard to imagine there could be a need for such a variety of flags, given the location, 25 minutes’ drive from the main town of Kirkwall, on the largest of the Orkney Islands, six miles off the Scottish North Coast. It’s remote and it’s expensive to get there, but tourists beat a path to the Stockans’ door from all over the world.

“We get a lot of Italians, and until this year we had an awful lot of Americans, but they’re not coming so much because of the weak dollar,” says Jan. “We also have Norwegians, French,

Japanese, Australians, New Zealanders. I think to myself why do all these people come to Orkney?”

The 70 islands have their attractions: beautiful and dramatic scenery, abundant wildlife, internationally recognised archaeological sites, such as the Neolithic village of Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar stone circle, high-quality food and drink, renowned jewellers and craftspeople, and a seven-month programme of festivals. Despite all this, there is one very big off-putting factor for anyone wanting to visit.

“If it was cheaper to get here the season would extend, as people from the UK are not concerned about the weather if it’s just for the weekend”

With its abundance of diverse attractions and scenery, the Orkney Islands have no trouble appealing to visitors – it’s just dealing with the fortune it costs to get them there

on the waterfront: orkney’s second-largest town, stromness seaport

It’s not the weather, as the warming effect of the sea means the islands hardly ever suffer snow or frost. No, the hardest thing for visitors and, in turn, those working in the tourism industry to deal with is the high cost of reaching the islands. Flights from the Scottish mainland are around £200 return; the more time-consuming alternative of the ferry is hardly better since it can cost more than £100 one way.

“As residents we’re lucky because our travel is now subsidised if we want to leave Orkney, but flights are expensive for visitors because the budget airlines aren’t interested in this route.”

Still, Jan has little difficulty filling her three rooms at the 19th century former manse surrounded by farmland, with views towards Harray and Stenness lochs. She and John, an

“There are so many people coming on cruises that they’re spoiling the sights”

Orcadian, have lived there since 1984, after moving back from Aberdeenshire so their kids could be near their grandparents. They turned it into a B&B three years ago, and in 2007 it was upgraded by VisitScotland from four to five stars.

Jan offers bed and breakfast at £48 per person per night and achieves around 90 per cent occupancy in the summer, though “from the end of October to the end of March it’s negligible”.

“Last year it was exceptionally busy, but it’s seasonal. If it was cheaper to get here the season would probably extend, because people from the UK are not too concerned about the weather if they’re coming for a weekend.

“You have to look for a niche market: mine was the luxury end of bed and breakfast for tourists, as we’re too rural to attract business people.”

Flying the flag: earl’s Palace ruins at kirkwall (far l) and rugged Yesnaby (l) are just two of the highlights found near holland house B&B (above and below) owned by Jan stockan (above) and her husband and bona fide orcadian John

Words: Fiona GriFFiths PhotoGraPhY: sUZannE MitChELL

“Norwegians, French, Japanese, Australians, New Zealanders – I think why do all these people come?”

contemPorarY stYledawn Flett the alBertWhen Dawn Flett’s hotel, The Albert in Kirkwall, was devastated by fire in 2005, she turned the disaster into a positive by overhauling and relaunching the business.

The hotel hadn’t been revamped for 20 years and – in common with most other accommodation in Orkney – it looked rather old-fashioned. Flett felt if she went for a new, contemporary design, she could target business customers and achieve a more even occupancy throughout the year. “Most of the hotels in Orkney are quite twee and this was very oldy-worldy. Now it’s more the sort of place I would want to go and stay in,” she explains.

The three-star Albert’s new look has been unveiled in phases since August 2006; so far the feedback from guests has been positive. “It really draws people in, especially business people. We had one guy who couldn’t get over coming to Orkney and finding a place like this because it wasn’t what he was expecting,” says Flett.

Improving the standard of accommodation, including installing a lift and internet access

H (Hotel)WILLIAM REED

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Ride a new tourism wave of Eastern promise

Ian and Dawn’s storey in a bungalow B&B

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spring water, and our guests really appreciate that. I think people hate being ripped off on mineral water.” At £3 for a 750ml bottle, Ken concedes that the mark-up is about 300 per cent, although he hasn’t put the price up in years.

Whitehole is also the bottled choice at the Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool (exclusively featured in our December 2007/January 2008 issue), where guests pay £2.50 for 750ml.

Sean Martin, manager of the hotel’s Blakes Restaurant, says: “We wanted something a bit different, and the packaging suits us because it’s glass and it’s quite plain and simple. The taste is nice and clean, and there’s a bit of a story behind it, which is always good; it’s said to have similar healing qualities to the water at Lourdes.”

At the Primrose Valley Hotel in St Ives, Cornwall, owner Andrew Biss serves Pure Blue spring water from Cornwall. “We chose Pure Blue because it’s Falmouth based and, like us, gives a percentage of profits to the Marine Conservation Society, and picks up empty bottles for recycling.”

Biss charges £2.50 for a 750ml bottle, although he’s thinking of increasing the price by 15 pence. “All our costs have gone up massively this year, but I don’t like the idea of charging more than £3 for a bottle of water. Some restaurants charge £4, which I find outrageous,” he says.

However, Bliss is “toying with the idea” of ditching bottled water entirely next year in favour of filtering his own. “Although Pure Blue is local, we’re still using lots of bottles and using a valuable water resource where we could possibly just use South West Water,” he says.

“We wouldn’t charge, so we’ve got to bear in mind the fact we’d be paying out money for a system and yet giving away the product for free.”

Water ways

It’s a bIt of a hot potato, water. britons splash out £1.7 billion a year on two billion litres of bottled water, a quarter of which comes from abroad. we may have some of the best tap water in the world, but our thirst for mineral water shows no sign of drying up, making it an important offering for hotels.

But how easy is it to choose the right water to serve your guests? Is it all about the most profitable option, or do you take into account taste, ‘water miles’, the look of the bottle and ease of recycling (as 83 per cent of mineral water bottles end up in landfill in the UK)?

According to the National Consumer Council, pricing your water right is becoming increasingly vital, as 70 per cent of consumers asked in a survey said they were fed up with paying for expensive bottled water while eating out.

But how expensive is ‘expensive’? At the five-star Macdonald Randolph Hotel in Oxford, guests are quite content to pay £4.95 for a 750ml bottle of Speyside water, says restaurant manager Giuseppe Vurchio.

“Guests can always have tap water – and the Oxford water is pretty good – but almost every table will have a bottle, purely because they know there’s no chlorine in it,” he says.

“I think we buy it for £1 a bottle, so mark-up is high, but that’s where we make the money.”

A Scottish water was the obvious choice for Macdonald Hotels, with the group switching from Highland Spring to Speyside two years ago. Vurchio explains: “Speyside has a lower sodium content. Also, they use a natural carbonate for the sparkling water, so it has very tiny bubbles.”

At Combe House, near Exeter in Devon, Ken and Ruth Hunt have chosen to serve a local spring water called Whitehole – from just over the border in Somerset. “It’s local and it’s a very nice spring water,” says Ken.

“However, we have a policy of offering tap water first and then a choice of still or sparkling

36 The Hotel Magazine June 2008 June 2008 The Hotel Magazine 37

Tasmanian Cloud Juice, anyone? Hoteliers reveal their water choices – and why they made them

Words: Fiona GriFFiths

Rich choice Would Madam like the ground mussel shell water, or the melted iceberg?

I’ve just guzzled a £21 bottle of spring water from Claridge’s ‘water menu’, and it tasted of what I can only describe as… water. Admittedly, the “420 Volcanic” from Tai Tapu, New Zealand, tasted clean and pure, but it wasn’t perceptibly different from my filtered tap water at home.

I wasn’t expecting any surprises with the £15 bottle of Finé from Japan either, or £9 bottle of rainwater from King Island, Tasmania, but that’s where I was wrong. The Finé had a slightly sweet flavour and smooth feel in the mouth – apparently owing to its low mineral content, pH balance and silica “from ground mussel shells”. The Cloud Juice tasted a touch metallic.

Daniel Baernreuther, Claridge’s bar manager, admits to being surprised himself when he started researching waters for the 30-choice water menu last year. “I knew different waters had different tastes because I have a favourite myself, Fiji. I wasn’t aware how many different kinds of water there are. I wasn’t aware there are people who wait for a piece of ice to fall off an iceberg into the sea and then catch the ice block, melt it and put it into bottles.”

Baernreuther is referring to Berg – pure iceberg water from Newfoundland, Canada – at £15 for a half-litre bottle. It sits alongside spring, artesian, glacial, rainwater and deep-sea waters from all over Europe and the rest of the world as far afield as New Zealand, Argentina and India.

It may sound gimmicky and hard to imagine forking out huge sums for water, but “Claridge’s is all about the experience”, says Baernreuther.

“When we came up with the idea we thought we’ve got a very extensive wine list, 13 pages of Champagne, yet we only offer five waters when bottled water is one of the biggest beverage markets there is. The most frequently ordered are fancy ones like Cloud Juice and Berg, because for many people it’s the sensation of trying something they’ve never tried before.”

“If a guest says ‘I’d like a glass of wine and a glass of still water’, we don’t say ‘would you like to look at the water menu’ – it’s when it’s appropriate,” explains Baernreuther.

Profits spring up from family’s own borehole

Choosing a bottled water to serve at his hotel in pembrokeshire was a doddle for David Jones. he likes to buy everything close to home for 16-bedroom plas hyfryd in Narberth – and he couldn’t get much closer to home than his own brand of spring water.

Jones set up princes Gate spring water, from a borehole on his family’s organic farm in princes Gate village, 16 years ago. while he runs the water business, his wife Jackie looks after guests down the road at plas hyfryd, where princes Gate is on the menu.

Jones says: “I firmly believe we should all drink more water, whether tap or bottled. bottled water can often be more convenient, so people should have that freedom of choice, but I think we should all take a leaf out of our european neighbours’ books and buy the most local to us, providing we’re happy with the quality.”

At the Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, owner Chris Wilson switched to a filtering and bottling system two years ago. “We wanted to provide complimentary bottled water in bedrooms, but buying the quantity we needed was very expensive,” he explains.

The Vivreau system filters and chills at the same time, producing freshly carbonated or still pure water that is served in glass bottles bearing the hotel’s name. Vivreau provides racks so bottles can be cleaned in a standard glasswasher, although specialist bottle-washers are also available. The systems start at £40 a week to rent, which includes 200 own-branded bottles.

To recoup this cost, Wilson charges restaurant customers £3 for a litre bottle. “A lot of people knock these systems as people profiteering from selling tap water at bottled water prices, but I would refute that. We’re paying to use the system, the bottles, for cleaning them, and we pay for the water anyway, albeit not a lot. There

“I think people hate being ripped off on mineral water”

are a lot of environmental benefits and we’ve not had a single complaint about the charge.”

The Best Western Gonville Hotel in Cambridge rents a similar system from EcoPure, mainly for conferences. It also starts at about £40 a week (including service and maintenance, but not bottles), and can be bought for £3,000 to £6,000.

“We were using tap water, but it would get warm and jugs aren’t particularly hygienic. The bottles get sterilised and we’re filling them with something that tastes clean and is nicely chilled,” says general manager Roderick Watson.

“It’s also a good system from a CSR [corporate social responsibility] point of view – water isn’t transported for miles and bottles are recyclable.”

Filtered water is used in the restaurant, or a British – soon to be local – mineral water is served. Watson adds: “I don’t want to use EcoPure because the bottles have an old-fashioned stopper and are quite valuable; and unfortunately have a habit of wandering.”

and something from the water list? Claridge’s offers its new global selection

to pourpure science: Vivreau’s water systems provide environmental benefits as well as brand labelling for hotels

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